Fate's Middle Finger: Shrapnel
by StealthLiberal
Summary: Imprinting can be like a bomb. The pack is about to realize the kinds of unintended targets that the shrapnel can hit when that bomb goes off. *ON HOLD* Will be continued, but life is just too busy for updating.
1. Chapter 1

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor intended to be made. All rights to Twilight and it's subsequent sequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim of ownership to these rights or any intellectual property of Ms. Meyers.

AN: Imprinting is something that is often looked at in the Twilight fandom as a romantic fixture. Something mythic and fairytale perfect. I have a far different opinion about it and decided to write about the ways that it can go wrong and what would have to be done to make it right. I hope you enjoy this.

Fate's Middle Finger: Shrapnel

Prologue

Marit was sitting at her table the day it all went so wrong. She was helping her two children make bird feeders for the cardinals that flew through the village in summertime. Ingrid and Magnus were convinced that the birds would love the seeds so much that they would want to stay and then they would be their pets. She was in the middle of explaining to them that birds needed to fly and that it was cruel to keep them in cages, when her husband and mate walked into the kitchen. One look in his eyes told her that her life was about to change and she almost begged him not to speak to her. If he did not speak than nothing could change. It was a child's type of wish, like hiding behind one's hands because you don't want to see what's in front of you. It doesn't make it go away.

Gunnar looked at her with a coldness that he had never directed her way before. Then he reached out to the torque around her neck and calmly took it off. That torque was her rank, her place in the pack. It was the visual symbol that she was the Jarl's mate, the bolverk, the alpha's left hand. As important to the pack at the beta. She had worn it ever since they had married ten years ago. He tucked it into his belt and stood stiffly, letting his eyes rove over the tops of his childrens' heads, before settling back on his wife.

"I have found the one I am supposed to be with and can no longer have you by my side Marit. You need to pack your things and take the children with you. I will not have anything here to upset her." Gunnar's face was impassive, like the stone that made up the hall in which they lived.

Marit at first couldn't understand what was happening. This was not her husband, her mate. Gunnar was a warm man, his booming laugh could make anyone happy. He adored his children, he loved her, valued her, respected her. He would never coldly ignore Ingrid and Magnus as they tried to get his attention. She had no idea who this man was in front of her, but he wasn't her Gunnar.

"You've imprinted, haven't you?" It was less of a question than it was a statement. It was the only thing Marit knew of that could do this. But it wasn't the Fenrir's way to repudiate a mate for an imprint, especially if there were children involved.

He nodded. "Dagmar will be expecting to move her things in here by tomorrow. I need to have everything ready for her."

Marit stood up and made Gunnar look her in the eye. "Gunnar, we're married, we have children, doesn't she realize this? I've always known this could happen, why can she not be your friend? If necessary I'm prepared to welcome her into our family as my sister-wife. It doesn't need to be this way!"

He just stepped around her and said "She does not want that. She does not want to share and as my imprint, her happiness is my first concern."

Ingrid and Magnus were only six years old, but they could see the tears in their mother's eyes, they could see the way their father acted like he couldn't see them. They knew something was wrong but they had no idea what. Magnus clung to his mother's leg. His father had never ignored him like this and it made him feel small, like he might not exist anymore. So he held onto his mother's leg and let her be his world, as all mothers are for their children when they are young.

Ingrid walked over to her father and tried to get his attention. She was the older twin, the one who was a bit more daring. Her father would tug on her red hair and call her 'Little Fire' when he came home to them. He was just upset, she knew she could set him right again. She always did. It broke her small heart when he picked her up without really looking at her and handed her back to her mother. It is so easy to wound children. Wound them fast enough or deep enough and it stays for life.

"Dagonet will be here to help you." With that, Gunnar walked out of the kitchen and it would be four years before his children would see him again.

At first Marit looked out the way he had left like she was breaking in half, confusion all over her face. She had woken up a happily married woman with a husband who loved her and loved their two children. Now she was cast aside like so much hearth ash. This could not be happening to her! Then she heard Magnus's whimper and felt Ingrid clutch at her arms. Marit put the two children in front of her and made sure they were looking at her.

"You listen to me. That man was NOT your father. Your father would never ignore you or treat you that way. You father loved you more than anything in this world. That man is NOT him. Your father died today and that is just what's been left behind. Never forget that. He loved you and that isn't him."

They never did forget that. Not when Dagonet, their father's beta, helped them pack... flabbergasted that his alpha would do something like this. Not when they were removed to the northern edge of Gunnar's territory into a log cabin. Not when Dagonet offered to challenge their father for the right to allow them to stay. Their mother merely said no, brushed her fingers over her pack tattoo and told Dagonet that she would leave the way she came, with her dignity. And they certainly didn't forget it four years later when Dagonet came to collect them from the empty cabin to take them back.

Somethings you don't forget and you don't forgive and they settle deep inside you like an oozing wound. The sad part is that if it's been part of you for long enough, the pain just becomes normal and you forget that it is in fact pain, that it hurts. It's just life.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: I have taken liberties with the whole Midnight Sun/Noontime Darkness phenomenon in Scandinavia, I realize it doesn't work exactly the way I have it in the story, but that's why it's fiction.

Chapter One:

16 Years Later

Ingrid was carefully placing camera equipment into her bag while tucking her cellphone between her chin and her shoulder.

"Yes Magnus, I understand that you would rather have me back in Norway, but it's not happening. I'm twenty two years old and do not need my hulking werewolf of a brother to take care of me. Besides, I'm the oldest, that makes me wiser and more mature."

There was a snort over the other end of the line. "And exactly how much wisdom did you manage to accumulate in the 15 minutes that you happen to be older than me by?"

" A small yet vital lifetime's worth. So bow down and acknowledge the wisdom of my choice to live as far away from them as I could possibly get. It was either this or feed Dagmar to the next vampire that wandered it's way through our territory. And we all know how well that would have gone over."

Magnus' voice sounded pained. "You know, with you gone, she's having to do a lot of it on her own now. Father let her slide on so may of the bolverk's duties that she doesn't really know what she's doing. As the beta I have to help her all the time. If you were here, you would be doing her job and I wouldn't have to talk to her constantly."

She sighed. "Magnus, the only way I'm coming back is if you need a kidney, she's FINALLY dropped dead, or you become the Jarl. Since none of those three things appear to be on the horizon right now. I wouldn't exactly be expecting me to come home for a visit."

Ingrid knew her twin missed her, until the day she had left Norway, left the pack, they had never really been apart for any real length of time. They used to like to say that they've never been alone, not even in the womb, but these days, being alone felt wonderful, like it was what she needed.

After a few more minutes of mock quarreling with her brother, she hung up the phone and loaded her equipment into her car. She had just moved to Forks Washington a month ago. It was a small town with a Native American reservation close by. Since she wasn't used to big cities, the size was perfect for her. The weather didn't much bother her. She had grown up in northern Norway; for months at a time the sun either never rose or it never set. If one could get used to insane conditions like that, near constant rain was pretty much nothing. The final clincher had been her apartment. It had a fireplace... in the kitchen. That was all she needed to sign her name on the lease and have her things sent here. She had grown up with a kitchen hearth and did not feel at home in houses that didn't have them.

As she loaded the last of her equipment into her trunk, she took a deep breath of air. It smelled like rain. Not that that was very surprising, it _always _smelled like rain. Only time would tell if it would clear up or if it would pour instead. She got behind the wheel and began the drive to La Push. Ingrid had an interview for her first job here in the States. She had sent her portfolio out to various places and had received a call from the Quilluete elder's council in La Push. They were attempting to draw more tourists onto their reservation. More tourists meant more businesses to cater to them, more businesses meant jobs for a community that desperately needed them. However, they needed to lure those tourists to the rez in the first place. So they wanted to hire a photographer to take a bunch of nature shots for a new hiking and camping brochure they were looking to make. Ingrid was eager to get the job.

When she drove through the rez, she saw why people would want to come here. It was beautiful, great views, gorgeous scenery. She was sure that with the proper marketing, they could get people here with no problems. However the poverty was also readily apparent. Houses had crumbling paint and wet rot in the wood. Many homes had a car in the driveway that was obviously broken and there was a certain listlessness to the people she saw as she looked out her window. It made her uncomfortable, like she should either solve the problem or that she shouldn't even be here in the first place. She couldn't quite decide.

When she pulled up in front of the lodge, she looked at the building and the carvings of birds, whales and wolves on it. It was the distinctive style of the tribes of the Pacific Northwest and it was utterly striking. Ingrid walked up the stairs and immediately saw Billy Black. He had said that he was in a wheelchair, so she assumed that this man was he.

"Mr. Black?" she asked.

The man smiled at her. "I am. You must be Ingrid Jarlsdottir, follow me, I have some paperwork for you to sign before you can start work on the brochure."

Ingrid blinked. "I thought you were still going over candidates for the job?"

"Initially we were, but your work was the best. You seem to really try to get an understanding of your subjects. Often with photos there's a certain coldness, a distance. I don't know how you do it, but whatever it is, it works."

Ingrid bowed her head, pleased that he thought so highly of her work. "Thank you and I would love the job. Your land is beautiful and it will be an honor to photograph it."

Billy seemed pleased with her answer and led her into a small office and handed her the packet of paperwork. After she had signed on all the dotted lines and made a copy of her green card and filed all the relevant work visa information, she was handed a map.

"There are a few areas that we definitely want photographed and they're marked on the map. For the rest, we'll leave it to your discretion." Billy wheeled himself out the door in front of Ingrid.

As she took the map and went to go back to her car, she turned and asked "The carvings on the longhouse are wonderful. May I photograph them?"

Billy looked at her, not many non Quilluete noticed the carvings, they always wanted stereotypical totem poles. It was like their preconceived notions blinded them to the smaller carvings that his tribe produced. "Of course, not many people notice them."

Ingrid laughed "Then they're blind."

She pulled her camera from her backseat and began to take shots of the longhouse. She even got a very dignified shot of Billy in his wheelchair looking at a carving of a whale, telling Ingrid about the animal's significance to his people. She wasn't sure if these would end up in the brochure but she knew that they would end up in her personal collection. Ingrid documented everything, everything that caught her eye. She knew that she would die long before the rest of her family, long before the rest of her friends and she wanted to capture life as she saw it, to leave something behind that would last longer than she. Photos were Ingrid's small grab at immortality.

Three days later she was hiking through La Push, the previous day she had taken some shots of the places that the council had deemed too important to the brochure to miss. Now she was taking shots of whatever caught her eye. Whatever told her that it would make people see how captivating this place was. She was also about ten to fifteen seconds away from pulverizing her camera stand into tiny little metal chunks.

"So help me, if you do not stay where I put you I will...will... FEED YOU TO FENRIS HIMSELF!" So maybe she was panting a little bit and maybe she was yelling at an inanimate object like it was capable of understanding her. Who cared? Then it fell over again and it was probably a good thing that no one was there to see her screech like a demented chicken and start jumping up and down on the stand till it was bent in the middle. It was not her finest moment.

Finally she stood away from the camera stand and took deep breaths, slamming her temper back into it's box. Ingrid never claimed to be perfect and quiet frankly she had no desire to be. Perfection was boring. However, her behavior had been a bit childish and that was a bit embarrassing. Picking up the twisted metal, she slung it over her shoulder and went to walk out of the woods. Looking around she realized that Fenris was quite literally having fun with her. She was lost and she never got lost. The Chained Wolf was truly having a good time at her expense today. With a sigh she picked a direction and began to walk in a straight line. She was bound to wash up somewhere that would lead her back to someplace she knew.

An hour and a half later she heard voices, they sounded like male voices. Ingrid followed them and practically walked right into someone's backyard. When she looked for the source of the voices she saw a group of well developed young men gathered in a group and looking at her. She thought she had been quieter, but perhaps not. They were shirtless and every last one of them had a body that looked like it had been sculpted from warm brown rock. There were two women with them as well, one with scars running the length of her face and one who was almost as tall as the rest of the men and had a hard look about her. As Ingrid approached them, she noticed that they were giving off a significant amount of heat. That brought her up short and she looked at them with a frown on her face. Part of her was wishing that she had stayed in the woods.

One of the men, the one who had been standing next to the woman with the scars called out to her "Can we help you?"

Ingrid nodded and when she spoke her accent was more pronounced than it usually was. "I'm sorry to intrude on you. I was hired by the council to take pictures of the reservation for a brochure. Unfortunately I got somewhat lost and need directions on how to get back to my car."

The man asked her where she had parked and she told him by the rez's clinic. He began to give her directions. Then he looked at all the equipment she was carrying and yelled into the house. "Hey Seth! Can you come out here. I need you to help someone carry some stuff to their car over at the clinic."

Another of the well endowed men came out of the house, however this one seemed to carry himself as though he were younger. He acted deferential to the man who had been talking to Ingrid. As she watched, the gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach began to grow. She had seen these behaviors before, she had grown up around them. She had moved across the damn globe to get away from them. But it wasn't possible! She took a deep breath, she was being paranoid.

The man turned to Ingrid. "I'm sorry, my name is Sam and this is Seth. I didn't ask your name."

"I am Ingrid Jarlsdottir." She nodded at Sam and then looked at Seth. And felt her world crack open and not in a good way.

He was looking at her like she was his world, his life, his goddamned _everything. _The rest of the group were looking at her now as well. Now there was no denying it, she knew what they were. They were wolves, and one of them was _looking _at her. She wanted to cry.

"No! No..._no! _You did _not_ just _imprint_ on me!" Ingrid was backing up slowly with each word, holding the broken camera stand in front of her like it was a weapon, like it had the ability to actually do something to help her.

As the rest of the pack stared open mouthed and shocked at her, Ingrid felt like everything was closing in on her. This couldn't be happening to her, but it was and she had no idea what to do.


	3. Chapter 3

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All right to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those right nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it makes me all giddy! I got a PM from someone asking about the Fenrir. Yes we will see more of them and hear more about them.

Chapter Two:

Seth had been having a good day. It wasn't raining, Leah had made waffles for breakfast, he hadn't had to patrol with Paul, it was a good day. He had spent most of it in the woods and at Sam's house. It hadn't been unusual in any fashion, but for once no one was angry, no one was on edge, no one was anything other than even keeled. Everything was fine... except that because it was in fact a good day, that meant, of course, that it couldn't _possibly_ last. When Sam called him out to help some person with their things he hadn't exactly been expecting his reality to go upside down, but it did.

When he first saw her, she was wearing jeans and hiking boots, a green tank top and her red hair was up in a bun. She looked quite pale and pretty athletic. Seth hadn't thought much more beyond that till she looked up and gave him and Sam her name. Then he felt himself get pulled into her. That's what it felt like, like one minute he was standing on his own two feet and the next he was being pulled to her. Sam, Jared and Quil weren't kidding when they said it was like gravity. But instead of feeling like she held him to the earth, he felt like she was the sun and he was a planet in orbit around it. He felt happy, complete... and a bit confused because his imprint seemed like she was scared out of her mind!

Seth could hear her heart hammering in her chest and saw her eyes go wide, her scent reacted to her emotional state and smelled slightly bitter. Controlled fear, that's what she smelled like. He was almost tempted to look behind him to see if there was a vampire or something. Then she opened her mouth and the pack's reality shifted a bit, shifted permanently.

"No! No... no. You did _not _just _imprint_ on me!" Her voice shook a bit with fear but more, it seemed, with anger.

She kept backing away from him, from all of them, holding the long metal object she had in front of her like it would keep her safe from him, from them.

The pack was staring at her. She knew, she had to know, to say what she had just said... she _had_ to know. The question was how? Their own tribe wasn't allowed to know unless they were pack, elders, an imprint or a family member for whom a special exemption had been made. So if almost everyone on La Push didn't know, how in the name of all that is holy, and a few things that aren't, did a white foreigner know?

Seth walked towards her in as nonthreatening a posture as he possibly could. He needed her to stop backing away from him. Sam on the other hand was looking at Ingrid. She knew, she wasn't supposed to know and imprint or not, in his mind that made her a possible threat. So he advanced towards her as well. In retrospect it was a stupid move. The old adage that cornered animals are dangerous works with humans as well.

Ingrid shifted her grip on the camera stand and bared her teeth at them. Seth stopped. "We won't hurt you, I promise."

Sam huffed "Besides, that piece of metal wouldn't hurt us anyway."

Ingrid bared her teeth further. "Well I guess that I'm lucky that you aren't all wolves."

She didn't even look at Emily, when she shifted her grip again, she just knew that the scarred woman was the only other human in the yard at the moment and she only needed one. She slid sideways, then feinted and snapped the metal stand out and let it go. It flew to Emily, it slashed threw her upper arm and drew blood. Not that Ingrid stayed to watch, as soon as the metal left her hands she turned and ran flat out back into the woods, dropping everything besides her camera bag...everything else would weigh her down.

As she entered the trees she knew she had guessed right. With those scars, that woman was not a wolf. She had been betting on the fact that she was the child, the mate or the imprint of one of those wolves and that as soon as Ingrid had drawn her blood the woman's wolf would feel compelled to attack her. Once she was in danger the wolf that had on imprinted on Ingrid would feel compelled to protect her... and Ingrid would be able to escape. As she ran she remembered, Dagonet had taught the wolfblooded well and she remembered.

"_You run with the pack, but you are not as strong as we are, not as fast, far more vulnerable. More than the rest of us... safety is in numbers."_ _Dagonet was the oldest wolf in the pack, because of this he had taught the wolfblooded for generations. Ingrid and Magnus listened carefully, being the Jarl's children, they would most likely phase but there were no guarantees._

"_In battle the enemy will try to isolate you. If they succeed you run, as fast as you can. You do your best to confuse them. Leave your scent EVERYWHERE. Do whatever it takes to muddy your trail. You are trying to buy yourself time, time to get back to the pack. It won't be a question of IF they find you, it's a question of WHEN. When that happens, they will take you and they will interrogate you. Everyone wants to believe that they won't break, that they can't break. That is complete and utter bullshit. EVERYONE on this earth has a breaking point and if given enough time they will find yours. So from the very beginning, you lie, you lie all the time, tell them so many lies that when they DO break you and you tell them the truth... they won't recognize it."_

So Ingrid ran in circles and doubled back, rubbing against trees, then she took her knife out and cut her arm and left a blood trail that would lead them nowhere. Eventually she field bandaged her arm up and ran till she hit a street. As she hid and looked out, she saw a car that looked like it was in good condition. She couldn't go back to her own car, they knew where it was, they would look for her there. So Ingrid crept into the driveway, popped the lock and hot wired the car. As she drove off La Push, she threw her shoes out the window. Less things on her that would carry her scent. Two streets away from her house she dumped the car and wiped it down. Then she got her cell phone, called the police and affected an American accident and reported a dumped car. This way the person she had stolen the car from would get it back. Then she pulled her cell phone apart and crushed the components.

When she entered her house, she locked the door behind her and then went to each window, locking it and drawing the shades. Then she stripped down to her underwear and took the clothes into the kitchen. She started a fire in the hearth and when it was blazing, she threw her clothes into it and watched them burn. She knew she should be packing and getting the hell out of town, but instead she sat on the floor in her bra and panties, put her chin on her knees, watched the flames and remembered things she tried hard to not think about anymore.

_Dagonet bringing a radio set to the cabin on his weekly Friday night visits. Ingrid and Magnus lived in the back of beyond now and could only attend school via the radio._

_Their mother's merciless laugh when Dagonet brought news of the training accident that had rendered Dagmar unable to have children. Marit had laughed and then snarled "Karma." as she finished cooking supper for everyone._

_The fear when the three months of winter darkness fell on them. The fear that without the pack's support that this would be the year they died. The provisioning for the three months before that as the days were incredibly short._

_The day in January when it all went wrong. When their mother hid her and Magnus in the house,took a knife, cut a deep furrow down each arm and ran out into the snow. She drew the vampires away from her children and they fed on her instead. Two days later Dagonet had come for Friday night dinner and found the two terrified ten year olds. It took him a few hours to find Marit's body, then he bundled it and the twins and took them home. Where, he INSISTED, they had always belonged._

_Her mother's funeral. The pack had mourned a beloved member and her father's imprint never forgot that they loved Marit more than her. Gunnar seemed to care very little as he watched the whole affair with disinterested eyes. The true division in the Jarl's household was born that day and it never died._

_Dagmar always calling them "Marit's children". Never acknowledging the fact that they were Gunnar's children unless forced to. Their father going along with it. Anything to make her happy. Ingrid always wondered what would have happened if Dagmar had mentioned that she wanted the twins dead. She wondered if her father was truly that weak in the face of his imprint's wishes, she was always thankful that she and Magnus never had to find out._

_Dagonet training them, Magnus phasing for the first time. Dagonet stepping down as the beta so that Magnus could take his rightful place, taking the third ranked position instead. Magnus becoming a powerful beta, filling the position better than Dagonet had. _

_Ingrid getting older, getting her first kill at sixteen years old, getting her tattoo, realizing that Dagmar was utterly incompetent as the bolverk. So Ingrid, before she had even completed her education, took over those duties. Ingrid hadn't been carefree since she was six years old._

_Ingrid packing her bags and saying goodbye to Magnus. She couldn't stay anymore, she was too angry. It crawled inside her skin, wrapped around her brain and it wouldn't let her be free of it. All it made her want was Dagmar dead, usually by her hand. She had to get out of there before she committed murder and her father killed her in retaliation. She had to get away, she had to get out. Magnus had understood, had let her go._

_Now she was getting dragged back in._

As Ingrid sat there and stared and thought, she finally noticed that a man was sitting in front of her. It was the wolf who had imprinted on her. She should have kept running and now she was trapped. Seth reached out tentatively and touched her chin and tilted her face up so that he could see her eyes again.

"Hey." Seth kept his voice low and soft.

Ingrid looked around and saw two more wolves in her kitchen, the she-wolf she had seen before and another one whose air of dominance marked him as the alpha.

"You have to have broken in. You people owe me a new door." Ingrid said, very deadpan.

The alpha nodded. "I'm Jacob Black, the pack's alpha. This is Leah, today she's our fourth ranked. How, HOW, do you know about us, how do you know about shape shifters?"

Ingrid kept her eyes lowered, so as not to challenge an unknown alpha. Then she ran her fingers over the tattoo on her shoulder and turned it to the alpha's view. "Did you really think you were the only ones?"

Seth looked at his imprint, she had made Emily bleed, had made herself bleed to try and make it impossible for them to find her. Had stolen a car and burned her clothes to try and get away from them. He had the awareness to realize that thus far, the only person in the entire pack who had an imprint that _wasn't_ shit-tastic was Jared.

"Why did you run from me? I'm not going to hurt you." Seth wasn't sure exactly how he felt about this woman, but he knew for a fact that he wasn't going to hurt her. That she didn't need to be this afraid of him.

Ingrid yanked her chin out of his grasp. "Well isn't that sweet. Now _get out of my house!"_

Seth made to protest but Jake and Leah grasped his shoulders, forcing him to move back from her.

Jake left no room for argument. "Seth, we need to leave. Ingrid, we'll talk later but right now I think you need to have some space from Seth. This is his sister Leah. She will stay with you tonight."

Jake and Seth left Ingrid's house, leaving Leah sitting cross legged in front of her.

"I don't suppose that I can make you leave can I?" Ingrid asked.

"Nope." Leah was never one for over verbalizing things.

Ingrid got up and gestured to the fridge. "Help yourself. I'm going to get dressed."

She went back into her bedroom and put on some pajama pants and another tank top. Staring at herself in the mirror she kept fingering her pack tattoo. She had run to other side of the globe to get away. It wasn't fair and just what in the HELL was she going to do?


	4. Chapter 4

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All right to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those right nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Once again thank you to everyone who reviewed, giddiness abounds. In response to a pm I received. Yes, this takes place after 'Breaking Dawn', several years have gone by. Ingrid is 22 and Seth is 20. Otherwise this would be a creepy meditation on hebephilia and male jail bait. So everyone has been aged five years since 'Breaking Dawn'. Otherwise this fic would be SO wrong!

Chapter Three:

Magnus always knew when his twin was losing her battle for control; when it crawled underneath her skin and she wanted to either tear down the walls or sit in the corner and scream. Life wasn't easy when you had the rage of a wolf and no way to burn it off. However, she had fought for the right to live outside the pack, so he waited, she had the control, the ability to force herself to remain as calm as possible. He didn't know how he knew when she was this way, only that he always had. Magnus waited for three hours, then his phone rang. Which was a good thing because he had been about thirty minutes from buying a plane ticket to the States to find out what had happened to get her this upset.

He answered in a concerned tone of voice. "Ingrid, what the hell is going on?"

At first she didn't say anything and just breathed into the phone, when she spoke it was in defeated sort of fashion. "I'm in trouble Magnus, and... and I don't know what to do..." Her voice just trailed off.

At first Magnus thought that his sister had lost it and had killed someone. It wasn't unheard of for a wolf blooded to lose their control utterly and pick a fight and then not stop. It's why the packs kept them close and why so few of them were allowed to live on their own. He sat down on his bed. "Tell me everything Ingrid, I can't help you if you don't talk to me."

She took a deep breath and when she began it was like she was telling a story, like she was merely a narrator for someone else's life. His sister may as well have been giving him a report on vampire activity along their borders, more than anything, the clipped businesslike tone bothered him. When she finished her story, Magnus put his head in his hand. He hated imprinting, but knew it was unlikely to ever happen to him, so he viewed it with the removed distaste of someone who would never have to deal with it personally. Twins so rarely imprinted that it was a documented occasion the three times it had happened in his pack's long history. Ingrid on the other hand didn't just hate imprinting, she loathed it to a degree that perhaps might have been bit unhealthy. If for nothing else than the power she allowed that hatred to have over her.

"So what do I do Magnus?" she asked.

"If you want to leave you can come back here. If they won't _let _you leave... I'll bring a portion of the pack and _get _you. Imprint or not, they have no right to force you to stay somewhere you don't want to." he wasn't sure that's how this pack operated, but he wanted Ingrid to know that he was willing to force the issue if he had to.

She sighed. "I'm sure Father would just love that. You can't tell him Magnus, he's only going to react in one of two ways. Fury and demanding that I come back like good little girl or he'll force me to stay and accept the imprint."

Magnus huffed. "I won't tell him, not yet anyway. It's your life Ingrid, I've never stood in the way of you doing what you wanted with it."

"It feels like I'm betraying Mom. And before you even say it, yes I realize how stupid that sounds. She's dead and gone and can't be hurt or betrayed anymore. I still don't want this, but I don't want to have to run from the place I chose to be my home either." His sister sounded exhausted. Like she just wanted to sleep.

"That's not the only thing, they saw my tattoo, they know that I'm connected to other wolves. They're going to want answers. If you want me to lie, I'll do that. Or I can tell the truth. Either way, it's up to you." It was obvious that right now, she just wanted someone to tell her what to do.

Magnus considered for a few moments. "If you want to tell them, than I'm giving you permission to. If you want to lie, go ahead. But I think it would be better if you just told them the truth. They'll know you're lying, or at least the one who imprinted on you might, and it'll most likely backfire."

He listened to his sister agree, then she hung up the phone, pleading fatigue. As he laid back on the bed he thought back to when he was a kid. Remembered what it had been like, thought about the reason Ingrid had left. The thing was though, he had always figured that after a few years she would come back. He couldn't help but feel a small bit of anger towards the wolf who had imprinted on his twin. Now there was a decent chance, if she decided to stay and pursue a romantic relationship with the wolf, that she would never come back. While Magnus knew it was selfish, he didn't like the idea of that, of her never coming back.

On the other side of the globe, Ingrid tossed and turned all night. Finally morning came and she stumbled blearily to her bathroom and then to her kitchen. Before she had so much as looked in Leah's direction, the she-wolf had a mug of coffee thrust out at her. Ingrid wrapped her hands around it. Sitting down at her large farm table she sipped and looked into the fire Leah had started in the kitchen hearth.

With a wry half smile she said "Morning coffee and a fire already going in the hearth. Why couldn't _you_ have imprinted on me instead of your brother? Because if this the treatment you give... then I need a wife!"

Leah almost choked on her coffee, then laughing she raised an eyebrow at Ingrid. "Yeah, because I need to make my life weirder than it already is. I can just see it, the tribe's only she-wolf... and she turns out to be gay."

Ingrid peered at her over her mug. "You're the only she-wolf in your pack? That's gotta suck."

Leah nodded and Ingrid got up and made them both some scrambled eggs for breakfast. As they sat there eating Ingrid flicked her eyes to the window and then back to her meal. She had heard a car pull up in driveway, the motor sounded like hers. It would appear that her interrogation would not be put off any further. Oh well, at least the eggs had been good.

As she collected both her and Leah's dishes she spoke out towards the living room. "I hope you ate breakfast before you came here. I don't have enough eggs to feed the rest of you, Leah already ate half of the eggs I have."

Leah shrugged as Jake, Seth, Billy Black and an old man who Ingrid did not know walked into her kitchen. She was going to have a talk with these people about walking into her house like they owned it. Knocking was appreciated in her book. She gestured towards the table.

"Have a seat." she said "I'll put some more coffee on. Leah, could you get the cream from the fridge please?"

After the coffee had been served, Ingrid sat at the opposite end of the table from everyone else, but still the end closer to the door. "So ask your questions, I know you have them, let's not delay the inevitable with small talk."

She noticed that Seth kept tracking her with his eyes and was displeased with her seating choice, but she made no move to give into his unspoken requests. The first several days of an imprint were the worst, when the wolf felt an almost uncontrollable pull to his supposed mate. The urge to touch was strong in general in wolf shifters, wolves being such a tactical species, but was multiplied almost fivefold in the first week or two of an imprint. She could tell that Seth wanted to be closer to her, to be able to touch if only in a friendly manner. That didn't mean that Ingrid was going to allow him to though.

He finally spoke "I can tell you're upset, it's how we found you yesterday. You were so unhappy that it was like it just drew me here. You're better today, I can kind of feel it, but you're still upset."

Ingrid nodded but still didn't talk to him.

After an uncomfortable silence, Jake took the lead. "I know that you've already met Billy Black, he's my father and is the head of our tribal council. This other man is Quil Atera Sr. he is also on our council. We've come here to ask you a few questions, normally my beta Sam Uley would be here as well, but you attacked his imprint and cut her arm yesterday and he's not ready to be near you right now."

"I figured she was human." she replied "It was nothing personal, I needed to create a diversion so that I could get away. She was the only one of you that that would have worked on."

Jake tilted his head at her words, then his gaze hardened. "Don't do it again. The only reason he didn't attack you is because Seth stopped him. If you weren't an imprint, that would have gone very badly for you."

Ingrid dropped her eyes and tilted her neck slightly to the side. It was enough to tell the alpha that she respected his position and dominance, but not enough to show that she acknowledged him as _her_ alpha. However it was subservient enough to satisfy Jake.

"I understand, I took a great risk but felt that I had to at the time. I will not attack another of your pack's imprints. You have my word." Ingrid's voice was sincere.

Jake nodded and leaned forward on his elbows. "You aren't a wolf and yet you have a pack tattoo on you. You said that we weren't the only ones, so... tell us about where you're from and who these others are."

Ingrid leaned back into her chair. "I spoke to my brother, he's my pack's beta and he's allowed me to speak to you."

Immediately Seth grew tense, he didn't like the idea that a wolf he didn't know was in some sort of position of authority over her. He didn't hide it well either and a soft growl noise came from his throat. Ingrid met his eyes and raised her eyebrow before looking back at Jake and continuing.

"I'm from northern Norway, it's not precisely a pack I belong to, so much as a nation. We call ourselves the Fenrir and basically we're comprised of all the wolf packs in Norway and Sweden. All of the packs have contact with each other, some more than others. We have to with the conditions we live under."

For the first time Quil Sr. spoke. "What, precisely, are these conditions?"

"Norway and Sweden are close to the Arctic Circle and in fact parts of them lay inside of it. This has an odd effect on our seasons. In the summer, for three months the sun does not truly set and the darkest part of the night is like an overcast day. In spring, the days are long and the nights are very short. So for six months every year, there is very little vampire activity." Here she paused for a moment and then she continued on.

"That changes in the latter part of the year. In the autumn the nights are long and the days are very short, culminating in winter, where for three months... the sun never rises, it's dark all the time. So, for six months it's a vampire's playground. They come out of the woodwork and it's war. To them they deserve those lands as much as we do. Every year there are casualties in the packs and every spring and summer new people shift for the first time to replace them. It's a harsh life."

They all looked at her, but Seth's gaze was the most intense, his voice was whipcord tight when he spoke "You live in a yearly STATE OF WAR?"

Ingrid merely nodded and continued on. "With those conditions there needs to be one voice, one person who everyone else, even the other alphas have to listen to. Someone dominant enough to control them if he has to. That is the Jarl. The Jarl's pack is the most northern one because it is the most dangerous territory to hold and protect the people in it. The current Jarl is my father, I belong to his pack. The tattoo on my arm is his pack's tattoo."

And there it was, Seth looked like he had swallowed something foul. All he could think of was that he had imprinted on the daughter and sister of two _very _dominant wolves. Jake had a look of intense thought on his face. Seth imprinting had opened a whole new set of circumstances to his pack and made a whole new set of complications as well.

"That still doesn't explain how you have a tattoo. You aren't a wolf so how could you possibly be part of a pack?" Jake asked.

Ingrid frowned. "Because I'm wolf blooded." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Forgive me for sounding ignorant." Billy said "But what is a wolf blooded?"

Ingrid looked shocked, how could they not know? She made a split second decision. They didn't know and she wasn't going to tell them everything either. This way she would still have some sort of advantage. Still have a bit of an ace in the hole.

"We're the children of one or two shifters who never shift themselves. We have too much of the blood in us though to not be affected. We're stronger and more enduring than your normal human, more aggressive as well. We support and assist the pack"

She said nothing about how deeply that aggression went, gave no specifics on what sort of assistance they rendered or even the other ways wolf blooded functioned in her society. Something told her that right now would be a bad time to unveil that information.

"We've never heard of this before. Perhaps our pack does not produce them?" Old Quil was in research mode. The man loved to find knots to untangle.

Ingrid shrugged. "Of course they do, it isn't magic that makes wolves, it's a genetic condition, subject to the same rules of genetic inheritance as any other condition. Wolf blooded are a side effect of that genetic condition. Your tribe has them but for some reason, you've just never recognized them as such. How, I have _no_ idea."

Leah narrowed her eyes, then she spoke "I think I know."

Jake huffed "Well then share with the class."

"Their packs don't go dormant." she said. "Ours do. The vampires never go away long enough for the wolf gene to go inactive in their packs. For us it's different, we have generations at a time where there's no pack. Plus, we lost a lot of our culture when we got forced onto the reservation, there was a massive culture death after that. I'm willing to bet we once knew what wolf blooded are and just lost that knowledge."

Billy leaned forward. "This is all fascinating but doesn't answer the major question that I have. Why are you fighting so hard against the imprint? Why would you not want to be with your soul mate? Your father must have an imprint."

Ingrid's face went blank and she stood up abruptly. "He does and she wasn't his wife and the mother of his children and it went about as well as you would expect. That... woman... isn't my mother. I'm sure that you're smart enough to figure it out for yourself."

Seth's face fell, his imprint's family had been destroyed by imprinting. He wasn't stupid, he could figure that out for himself. He also wasn't stupid enough to think that getting her to talk to him would be easy, he just didn't think it would be damn near impossible. At the same time he just wanted to reach out and do something. To make it better because it was painfully obvious that her life hadn't been easy at all.

Later that night as the pack sat around Sam and Emily's kitchen table, everyone looked at Seth with sympathy. No one could figure out how he was going to be able to get through to her. They were also a little angry with fate. Seth had phased so young and had so much of his childhood flushed down the toilet due to being a wolf that he deserved an imprint who would want to be with him. Who would want to love him. However, they couldn't really bring themselves to blame Ingrid. The woman had reasons she was the way she was. As they sat and ate, they looked at Seth and wondered just where this was going to end up.


	5. Chapter 5

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All right to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those right nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Once again thank you to everyone who reviewed, giddiness abounds. Also, thanks to those who have added this story to their favorites and such. Though I would still enjoy hearing what you think, good or constructively bad. Also, there is no Jake/Nessie imprint in this story. I find the kiddie imprints morally repugnant and can only deal with one of them in a story, so I went with Quil/Claire. There is also no Paul/Rachel imprint. The only remaining cannon imprints are Sam/Emily and Jared/Kim.

Chapter Four:

One Week Later

Seth was at the longhouse, he usually didn't spend much time here. There were too many memories, too many times he had run down the halls with Leah as they looked for their father. Too many times that his father had sat him in his lap as he explained the culture and history of their people. The Clearwaters had always been involved with the tribe. Either on the elders council or in some other fashion, so the memories were fairly washing over him as he sat down in Billy Black's office and waited. Ingrid was dropping off her final photos for the brochures the council wanted to publish and was picking up her payment. He hated the idea of ambushing her like this but it had been a week and she refused to answer the door for him when he knocked and she wouldn't return his phone calls. All of that might not have been so bad if the constant awareness of her that the imprint gave him wasn't screaming at him that she was mired in a wash of emotional turbulence and _none_ of it was good.

When he smelled her outside the longhouse and heard her footsteps come down the hall, he visibly relaxed somewhat. Like all the rest of the imprinted wolves in his pack, the presence of his imprint had a certain calming effect on him. Though he had noticed that it was less for him than the others. Sam had told him that that was probably due to the fact that Ingrid wanted nothing to do with him. Lucky him, he had gotten the imprint who hated his guts. Seth had had just about all the irony that he could take from fate and was contemplating if it was possible to flip off a metaphor, when Ingrid walked in the door... and stared at him... and frowned. Great.

Ingrid took a deep breath and turned to Billy Black, handing him a large manila envelope. "I developed them in both color and in black and white. I've sorted them with labels of the exact locations that I took the shots. I hope that you like them."

Billy took the photos and looked through them. "These are fantastic, you did a wonderful job." He handed her a cheque. "Here's payment in the amount we agreed upon."

Ingrid took the cheque, thanked Billy, frowned at Seth again and then quickly walked back out and down the hall to the front door. It seemed like she was trying to get to her car as fast as she could without actually running there. Seth drooped, she was that desperate to get away from him.

Billy threw a pencil at Seth and it bounced off his forehead. "Get out of my office and talk to her! Faint heart never won fair maiden."

Nodding Seth got up and rushed after her. He caught up with her just as she was about to get in her car and drive away. "Look, can we just talk? Just us, without everyone else crowding us?"

Ingrid sighed and closed the door to her car. "What do you think we could _possibly_ have to say to each other? You imprinted on me and I have no desire to be _anyone's_ imprint. I hate imprinting and everything it stands for, you _obviously_ don't. So enlighten me... what the hell do we have to talk about?"

"Can you forget about the damn imprint for five seconds? Please?" Seth's tone was verging on irritated, all he wanted to do was talk to her... and as usual, she just wanted him to shut up and go away.

Ingrid huffed and then nodded._ "_Fine. Let's talk, what do you want to know?"

Seth gestured towards the road. "Walk and talk?" he asked.

She nodded again and they began to take a walk down one of the two main roads on the reservation. Seth at first said little and mostly watched her, reading her body language. Ingrid was aware, more aware then most humans he knew. She seemed to know where everything was around her, where his feet were every time they hit the ground. It made him think back to how he had seen her behave around the pack. She played to the dominant wolves instincts, but never enough so that they could say that she _accepted _submission to them. All her actions, everything that she did and said seemed to say 'I'm dominant.'. It confused Seth because, as far as he knew, that as she was human, there was no way she could be dominant. His imprint seemed to be full of contradictions.

"Let's start with the basics." he said. "What's your full name, how old are you? Favorite color, hobbies?"

Ingrid raised that ever sardonic eyebrow of hers. "Seriously? Okay, I'm twenty two and my full name is Ingrid Noomi Jarlsdottir. My favorite color is purple and my hobbies include hiking, skating as fast as I can and I mix a pretty good drink. Before you even ask... no they do not include long walks on the beach and romantic evenings by candlelight."

She ended with a small sarcastic laugh, Seth mentally grabbed onto that laugh like it was the greatest of victories. Hey, she wasn't running, attacking people or throwing him out of her house to get away from him. He was going to take whatever victories that he could find.

"Good" he said. "I'm not a fan of candlelight dinners myself, you can't see the damn food." Then he paused. "Your last name is Jarlsdottir?"

"Yes." she replied. "My brother is Magnus Jarlsson, my father is Gunnar Jarlsson. It's a Scandinavian thing, a lot of the surnames where I'm from tell you who so and so's father was."

As they walked Seth kept asking her little questions, just small stuff. He had no intention of frightening her off right now, not when he had finally gotten her to talk to him. He even joked with her about how he was two years younger than she was. He'd gotten another small laugh out of her when he called her the older woman. Seth was pretty sure that she might have been the only female he'd ever met who thought that was funny, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

When they reached the intersection, Ingrid stopped and turned around, going back to the car. She was clearly confused when Seth followed her. "Uh... you can leave. I know my way back, it's just up the road."

Seth smiled at her "I know, doesn't mean that I won't still walk with you."

As they walked back Ingrid suddenly stopped and turned to him "Look, I'm sorry." she said. "But you have to know that I'm never going to be happy about this. That I'm never going to be happy to have been imprinted on. I'm sorry that fate screwed you, but I'm never going to see imprinting as anything other than something that ruins people's lives. It's not your fault, it's just what is."

He took a deep breath and hoped he said this right. "I understand. I completely understand why you would hate imprinting and if I had been in your position, I would too. I get that you went to the other side of the planet to get away from wolves and our issues and instead got imprinted on."

Seth kept staring at her face and hands, he wanted to touch her so damn badly... but knew she wouldn't let him. He felt like he was trying to soothe a wild animal into letting it be petted. "But, it can't be undone and I just want to get to know you, that's all. I just wish you would believe me."

She laughed mirthlessly. "I believe you, I do. But you have no mate to distract you from me, no other love. So you focus everything on me and it's uncomfortable. I refuse to be the center of your universe, I'm not interested in the job and it's too much pressure anyway."

Ingrid went to her car and drove away. Seth watched her go and once again was hit with the realization that his imprint would rather be shot than spend time with him. He turned quickly and punched a tree. It cracked and splintered, though thankfully that was the extent of the damage. Then he sprinted into the forest to take over for Collin on patrol. Thus leaving the tree wondering just what it had done to deserve getting punched by an overly large man with romantic troubles.

XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

Four days later there was a knock on Ingrid's front door. When she answered it, there stood Jacob Black. She let him in and led him to the sofa.

"Alpha Black, you knocked this time." she said.

Jake nodded a bit shamefaced. "I'm sorry about that. This is your territory and we shouldn't have just burst into it without asking."

Ingrid replied "Apology accepted. What can I do for you?"

Jake was never one to beat around the bush, especially now that he was the alpha and this was no exception. "You can explain to me why you avoid Seth continuously."

She flopped down onto one of the chairs. "I would have thought that was obvious. Can you imagine that you're six years old and you wake up as the oldest child in a happy and complete family, and then by suppertime it's all gone? That your father loved your mother with all he had and then in an instant, he doesn't anymore. That suddenly you're something to be ashamed of, to be hidden away someplace where no one will see you. Because that's what happened to my family."

Jake watched her as she talked, he could hear her breath get shallower when she spoke of this, like it was still an open wound decades later. He could smell both sadness and aggression as well. Whatever had happened to his pack's newest imprint years ago, it was still alive and kicking for her emotionally.

"He just tossed us aside like we were nothing. He imprinted on a woman so gripped with insecurity and mewling weakness that she continued to compete with the memory of my mother even after she had died." Ingrid wasn't even looking at Jake anymore, just picking at her nails.

"My mother told me that my father died the day he imprinted and you know what? She was right. My father ceased to be the man who loved me and my brother, the man who took care of his family. He became something else, a harsh man who was brutally strict with everyone around him. He stopped truly caring about me or Magnus and definitely my mother, the day he looked into Dagmar's eyes."

Her voice got determined then. "Before all that though, my mother and father loved each other and what they had was real. I've watched people in my pack have real love and real lives with others and _that's_ what I want out of life and I won't settle for anything less. In my eyes, imprinting is less. Because if were so great than it wouldn't have done what it did to my father, to my family. It couldn't."

Jake moved to the edge of the sofa closest to her. Whether or not Ingrid acknowledged it, she was part of his pack, or she would be. So as the one who led that pack, he felt the need to help her with what troubled her. He was the alpha, taking care of his pack was as natural as breathing the air.

"Thankfully, I have no idea what that feels like, however Seth understands a lot more than you give him credit for. You remember his sister Leah don't you?" he asked.

Ingrid nodded. "Your sole female wolf."

"That's her. She used to be engaged to the beta of my pack, Sam. They were together all through junior high and high school. After they graduated, the summer before college, he proposed to her and she accepted. They would be married right now and maybe have their first kid. Unfortunately Sam phased, he was the first of the new pack and it took him two weeks wandering around the woods to shift back."

She winced in sympathy. "Shifting alone is rough, it doesn't happen often among my people, but I can see how it would happen more often among yours."

Jake continued. "When he came back he wasn't allowed to tell Leah anything about what was happening to him. All Leah knew was that her fiance had vanished for two weeks and was now not going to college. But they were working everything out, it wasn't easy but it was working."

"Why couldn't he tell Leah what had happened?" she interrupted.

"The tribal rules state that the only ones who are allowed to know about the pack are the elders council and the imprints. It's exceedingly rare for an exception to be granted." he replied.

The look on Ingrid's face telegraphed what she thought about the wisdom of that rule. Which is to say that she looked like she thought that whoever who had made that decision was a bit soft in the head.

"Anyway, everything was going fine until Leah invited her cousin Emily down for a visit." he continued his narrative. "Sam took one look at her and imprinted. Within, I think, two weeks he had left Leah and moved Emily into his house. He couldn't even tell Leah why and she fell into a severe depression. Eventually she phased for the first time, and after the dust settled from that, she was able to know why Sam had left her. Not that it's helped much what with the pack mind and all. She's better than she was but she's not over it and I think that a part of her never will be."

While Jake was the alpha, he was young and still had a lot to learn about people, so he didn't quite realize that telling Ingrid this story wasn't the best of ideas. He truly thought that it would make her feel more comfortable around Seth. However, it just made her think more about her father, mother and Dagmar. There was a completely expressionless look on her face.

"I see." she said in a tight voice. "Is there anything else that I can do for you Alpha Black?"

When Ingrid was angry or upset she used formal address to wolves that were dominant to her, which was most of them. Truth was, she was starting to get full up on the amount of stress and pressure that she could handle right now.

Jake smiled at her. "Actually there is. We're having a pack meeting today and I want for you to come. You need to meet the whole pack and they need to meet you."

"I'd really rather not." she said.

Jake's tone became a bit harder. "I would prefer if you did."

Ingrid slumped her shoulders and head down slightly, but did not bare her neck. It was a clear signal that although she was submitting to Jake's will, that she was doing so under duress and wasn't happy about it.

"Fine." she sighed. "What time do I need to leave?"

Jake replied "Now, I ran over here, but the meeting is in about twenty minutes. Just enough time for you to get there and not be late."

She nodded and stiffly got her keys and walked to her car. She was so mad right now she could skin Jacob Black and the rest of his damn pack. However she swallowed her anger like the good wolf blooded that she was and drove to the meeting place, which she was told was Sam and Emily's house. Ingrid muttered in Norwegian as she drove. Fenris was going out of his way to fuck with her and she really wasn't very appreciative of his efforts and really wished he would just stop.

When she arrived, everyone looked at her in surprise. No one had expected her to come, figuring that she would flat out refuse Jake regardless of his rank. Seth however looked overjoyed to see her, in his typical enthusiastic way, he was grinning widely. Emily, on the other hand, immediately went to Sam's side and held onto his arm, she looked afraid of Ingrid.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Ingrid said. "What I did almost two weeks ago was purely a tactical decision. Even if I had planned to hurt you again, which I wasn't, I gave a binding promise to your alpha not to harm any of this pack's imprints."

Emily nodded but made no move to leave the protection of her wolf. As Ingrid watched her, she realized that Emily was deliberately playing to the protective instincts of her mate. There was another woman here who also didn't leave what was obviously her mate's side either. From this behavior Ingrid quickly surmised that the imprints and mates of this pack's wolves were not required to earn their own status, that they relied upon their wolf's status as theirs instead. Something which among the Fenrir was considered shameful and only done by the very weak.

Ingrid shrugged mentally and decided to chalk it up to cultural differences and just leave it alone. Not her pack, not her rules, not her problem. As she looked around for a place to sit, she saw Leah sitting by herself in the back of the room. Ingrid couldn't help but draw parallels between the she-wolf and her mother. Besides, she had an almost instinctive and unearned trust for she-wolves and took a kitchen chair, placed it next to Leah and sat down.

Leah looked at her, surprised. This girl didn't know her very well and Leah had no idea why she wanted to sit with her either, but her brother seemed... pleased. Almost as if he was happy that if she wasn't sitting with him, that at least she was sitting with his sister. The look Ingrid gave was that she was here but didn't particularly want to be and that she had no intention of leaving her spot.

Still smiling, Seth came over to her with a glass of iced tea, when he handed it to her, their fingers brushed against each other. For Seth, who had been waiting for almost two weeks to touch her again, it was a more meaningful thing than the brushing of fingers would have been to anyone else. For Ingrid, it increased the sensation of being pulled to him, if only a little. They both had equal and opposite reactions, Seth smiled at her softly, wanting to brush the red hair that fell a bit into her eyes, away. He liked how it felt to touch her, he wished he could do it more.

Ingrid on the other hand went still and looked a little bit scared, then absolutely everything about her facial features rearranged themselves into a blank mask. She sat stiffly and when he let her fingers go, she immediately sat on them, like she was trying to hide them. Seth gave her a sad look and then sat down.

Jake and Sam immediately began to talk about pack business, patrolling and keeping everyone abreast of tribal business. In the middle of the meeting, Paul and Leah began fighting about... something. Truth be told no one really knew what it was about, since they did it so often no one kept track anymore and the entire pack just stared off into space waiting for the long pause that meant that the two pack hot heads were done. When they finished, Leah's eyes bored a hole in Paul's neck and he slightly ducked his head.

Ingrid stared. "Did they just switch places in rank right now?"

Seth laughed. "Yeah, they go back and forth practically every other week. Look's like Leah's third ranked again. This has been going on for years."

Ingrid stared at Leah and Paul some more, to her, that was just... _weird._

Paul was also looking at her oddly. "How the hell can you tell that?"

She shrugged. "If you know what to look for, and I do, it's easy to figure out rank structure. Before you ask, no... I haven't spent the day or two with you that I would need to figure it out. I'm not that cool."

Jake wrapped up the meeting with some important information. "Charlie and Carlisle have both talked to me about some activity going on a little north of our borders. Seems like a group of back to the land, crystal hugging hippies have moved into the old logging camp that used to be there. Both of them have some suspicions about the group and wanted us to keep our ears to the ground. So whoever has patrol up in that area, pay extra attention when you swing through. It could be nothing, but it could be something also."

Everyone nodded and then got up to begin socializing. The pack had very few social outlets save for each other, so pack meetings tended to end in dinner, movies and just hanging around. Embry and Quil headed out to patrol while most everyone else moved into the living room.

Ingrid hung back, not sure if she could leave yet. Sam came up to her and jutted his chin towards the living room. "You can hang out with us in the living room or you can help Emily and Kim in the kitchen, they could use the help and it might be good for you to spend some time getting to know the other imprints."

Years later, when the pack talked about this, they would all agree that this was _not_ Sam's finest conversational moment. In fact in the following months Sam would rack up a few less than stellar conversational moments when it came to Ingrid. He was just lucky that way.

Ingrid cast her eyes to the side, not down, a key difference, she could feel herself growing more tense. "I'm a shitty cook, good bartender but a shitty cook. Anyway, I finished my meet and greet, so I'm going to head on back to Forks, buy a few drinks, play some pool.

Now in Sam's defense, currently there was little about Ingrid that he was fond of. She had attacked Emily, though had he had thought about it critically, if Ingrid was as trained as she'd made herself out to be, she could have done much worse than a mere cut on the arm. She openly wanted nothing to do with Seth and he was the _happiest_ of the pack, so much so that Sam secretly wondered what the hell he was doing being one of them. She acted like a wolf but wasn't one, in short she was everything that they had been told imprints weren't and a bag of chips besides. Ingrid rubbed him the wrong way and after he had heard her story from Jacob and Seth, he was sure that he and Emily rubbed her the wrong way too. However, he was the beta and _his_ imprint was happy being an imprint and enjoyed being a helpmeet so perhaps someone just needed to show Ingrid how things would be so much easier if she just... well... could be more like Emily and Kim.

"I don't think that's such a good idea. You shouldn't go out to the bars around here by yourself." he replied.

Ingrid pointedly began looking at Sam and then looking back at herself, like she was comparing. Now normally she was not this abysmally stupid when it came to high ranked wolves, especially not betas, but she was stressed and quickly reaching her limit. An imprint was playing a dominance game with the pack's beta... and it got everyone's attention.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sam asked.

Ingrid looked him directly in the eyes and smirked, showing teeth. "I'm trying to see the family resemblance. Because you _obviously_ think that you're my father. Funny though, I thought that I had left my father back in Norway. Dad... you look so different, so changed."

Sam growled warningly at her. If she wanted to play pack dominance games, then fine. If she was strong enough to play them she could be strong enough to lose them too.

Ingrid shrugged and stepped sideways around Sam, never once giving him her back. She picked up her bag and walked right out the door. No one was sure if she was submitting to the fact that Sam was too dominant to play around with like that or if she had just declared him unimportant enough to even complete the challenge. Either way you sliced it though... she had pretty much given Sam the finger and told him to fuck off and she had done it with a shitty sing song nonchalance to it as well.

Leah was amused as hell.

Paul was irritated, but who knew if that was because he had just been knocked down in rank by Leah or not.

Collin and Brady were finding themselves intrigued, this was new and lately very little that was new had wandered into their lives.

Jared was upset on Sam's behalf and considering how close their imprints and they were, that surprised not a soul.

Emily and Kim were wide eyed.

Sam was angry as fuck but was controlled enough to not go running after her slathering at the mouth and exploding into a pile of canine fur.

Jacob felt the omnipresent headache he had had for two week start to grow to migraine proportions.

And Seth? Well Seth found himself wanting to kick Sam in balls for pissing off his imprint.

While everyone was trying to figure out what to do, Ingrid had gotten into her car and was driving back to Forks. She was angry, no forget that, she was enraged. She was going to go to Churchill's and play pool and drink the anger off. It wasn't her best plan but right now anything that didn't involve poisoning the La Push pack's beta in his sleep was probably a good plan.

Back at the Uley house Jacob was actually massaging his temples, trying to figure out a way that this might actually work out for Seth but as of yet all he could think of was that this imprint was an epic fail and that the ancestors either actively hated Seth or they had the crappiest sense of humor in two planes of existence.

Finally he looked up. "Sam, Seth, Brady... follow her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. Just don't let her know that you're following her."

Sam looked affronted.

"Don't give me that look Sam." Jake admonished him. "You were _both _egging each other on and you can get a late dinner as a result."

Sam just walked out the door with Seth and Brady. "Seth, I _really_ don't like your imprint."

"No offense Sam." Seth replied. "But she doesn't even like me, why should you be special?"

XXXXXX XXXXXX

When Ingrid got to Churchill's she was greeted warmly by the bartender. She liked this place and had become somewhat of a regular. They had pool, darts, curry fries and hard cider... what wasn't to like? She hadn't been by in a while so Joe raised his eyebrow before getting her the usual, a plate of curry fries and an Ace hard cider.

"Where've you been? Haven't seen you in about two weeks." Joe asked.

Ingrid... cackled. Her laughter had a slight edge of hysteria to it and she ate her curry fries with the air of a woman who was instead imaging crushing her enemies between her teeth. "La Push, I've been in La Push, dealing with the self important and shirtless."

Joe looked a little astonished. "Jacob Black and Sam Uley's gang? They've latched onto you?"

"Like the clap." she replied.

"That's... odd. They have very little to do with us in Forks. I heard that they head up some Native purity group. You're the wrong color for them sweetheart." Joe told her.

Outside Churchill's where the customers couldn't see them, but where the three wolves could see and hear the customers, Seth looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"Did that asshole just compare us to some sort of Indian version of the KKK?" he exclaimed, clearly offended.

Brady nodded. "Hey." he said. "At least they've moved on from the drugs angle and went with some hot spicy racism. It's inventive, the folks on La Push are still working the druggie theory."

Back in the bar Ingrid shrugged. "Well whatever their deal is I'm not letting it control my life."

"Good luck with that." Joe snorted. "They keep their women pretty close to home. There are three of them and you barely see 'em. When you do, whatever guy they belong to is all over 'em. I won't lie... it's a bit creepy."

Ingrid grit her teeth hard enough that it was audible, her hand was holding the cider bottle too tightly and she forced herself to let it go. Piece by piece she tucked her temper down into the box it lived in. She was doing well and taking a deep breath she said. "I have no intention of living my life that way."

That is most likely where it would have ended, but every bar has a group of drunken fools who ruin it all for everyone else. Churchill's was no exception and a burly looking logger fellow next to her laughed at her.

"Lady you can think whatever you want, but those boys are gonna have you doing what they tell you to do and begging for the same. You ain't special."

Ingrid began to shake and that shaking looked like something very specific to the werewolves outside. It looked exactly the same as when they were about to phase.

"Jesus Christ! Is she gonna fucking phase?" Brady sounded a bit panicked. All three of them couldn't think of a worse place than a full bar for a first phase.

In the bar Ingrid looked at the man laugh at her again and she lost it. Wolf blooded were aggressive, too aggressive, it took years to learn control and it didn't come easy. All the anger and rage that allowed someone to shift; a lot of it got burned off when phasing occurred. Wolf blooded couldn't shift... it had nowhere to go but out and at a target.

Ingrid punched the man in the face and he dropped like a rock. In a normal bar fight with such a clear winner it would have ended there but Ingrid moved to hit him again. His two friends got up to grab her and she elbowed one in the sternum, knocking the breath out of him, the other she brutally kicked in the balls. With them both down, she straddled the first man and began hitting him again and not stopping... she was going to kill him.

By this time Sam, Seth and Brady had come running into the bar. Brady reached her first and pulled her off of him but she wrenched herself, screaming, out of his grasp. It took all three of them to get her off the man and out of the bar. As soon as they were out of sight they began to haul ass back to La Push, Ingrid thrashing and fighting them almost the entire way.

When she finally went limp they were back on La Push, so they put her down and let her rest against a tree. She was panting and there were tears trailing down her face. She was mumbling in Norwegian so they couldn't understand what she was saying but they all could tell that she was deeply ashamed of herself.

Seth was almost out of his mind with worry, in his mind it looked like she had totally lost her sanity. What he had just seen freaked him out and badly. He sat next to her and reached out for her hand and for the first time she did not fight him, instead she just clung to his hand both hating and not caring about the fact that doing so helped calm her.

It took Seth a few minutes to realize that her phone had been ringing off the hook since this had all begun. So he picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Put my sister on the phone." Magnus wasted no time. His twin was losing her mind and he had no time to deal with pleasantries.

Seth balked at having this man, whom he did not know, talk to his imprint. He wasn't thinking clearly, his imprint was in extreme distress and all he wanted to do was protect her.

"Look, I don't think she's really in any condition to talk to anyone right now. Can I have her call you back when she's ready?" he asked.

Magnus growled at Seth. "Listen _puppy,_ I do not have time for this shit. My sister has just lost control for the first time in five _years_. How do I know that, because I'm both her twin and her beta. Five years and now, two weeks with your pack and she's falling apart. So... Put. Her. On. The. Phone." Magnus sounded every inch the excessively dominant wolf that he was. "If you don't, so help me G-d, I will take my pack and you will not be prepared for the retaliation."

Seth couldn't help but react to that dominance, he was no where near high enough ranked to meet Magnus in any sort of challenge, so he handed the phone to Ingrid without another word. She grabbed onto the phone and had a long tearful conversation with her brother. It was a conversation that she had total privacy for because it wasn't in English.

While they talked Sam found himself bristling. A foreign wolf had just ordered Seth like he was a fly and Seth had obeyed. It pissed off the beta, not at Seth but at Magnus. He didn't like anyone else ordering his wolves around, he had no idea who this man was nor anything about his intentions. However, even a blind man could have seen how close the two siblings were. Sam was no fool, even if Ingrid accepted the imprint, which, as of yet, seemed unlikely, they would still need to deal with her family. If Ingrid and Seth became a mated pair, it would tie the two packs together from then on and Sam for one, wasn't sure if his pack was ready for that.

Eventually Ingrid calmed down. When she did, Magnus switched to English. He did not want to do this, but he knew that the others would hear him clearly though the cell phone and they needed to.

"Ingrid, you're a wolf blooded and you know the law. If you lose control again you will have to place yourself under a pack. You can either choose the La Push pack or come back home to Norway and our pack. Either way, if it happens again, you can't live independently." His voice left no room for argument.

Ingrid reeked of submission when she replied. "Yes beta."

In fact she was being extremely submissive to the three wolves in front of her as well. For Sam it was a normal enough thing for him and so he thought nothing of it. For Brady it was new, since he was one of the lowest ranking pack members, not many people bared their throat to him in such a fashion. Seth however did not like it, he did not want her this submissive to him. Sure, his inner wolf expected a certain amount of submission in his mate...but not this much. This much felt deeply wrong.

She hung up the phone and then just leaned back against the tree holding Seth's hand. Sam crouched in front of her. "What the hell happened back there?" he asked.

Ingrid kept her eyes closed. "When you grow that angry you phase, it burns it off, you can channel it, we can't. The more dominant your wolf parent is the more control a wolf blooded has, I have an enormous amount of control, though I understand if you don't believe me about that right now."

Seth pulled her a little closer to him. "It looked like you weren't even really there Ingrid."

"In a lot of ways, I wasn't." Then she asked "Have you ever heard of the myth of the Norse beserkers?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I was into mythology when I was younger."

"Well" she continued. "The myths of the beserkers are based on the Fenrir wolf blooded. When we lose control like that we can't stop until it either peters out on it's own, or a more dominant pack member stops us."

Seth wrinkled his nose. Ingrid smelled like too many things and they were all bad and her body language telegraphed how exhausted she was. So he did the first thing that came to his mind. He picked her up and began to walk towards her house, his beta let him go. Sam deciding that it was more important for he and Brady to get this latest wrinkle back to Jake.

As Seth carried her home and Ingrid fell asleep in his arms, he wondered if she would trust him more after this. He hoped so, he needed her to.


	6. Chapter 6

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All right to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those right nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Thank you to those who have read, reviewed and/or added this story to their favorites. I enjoy hearing what you think, so feel free to review. I'm sorry for the delay, between family stuff, traveling for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and then traveling for New Years.. and some hefty writer's block... well this chapter took it out of me. Thanks to Midnitestarr and Melwolfgirl for each helping me in their unique way. And to my beta Pippynz for making sure this wasn't total drek before you all read it.

Chapter Five:

Sometimes you just need to wake up.

Sometimes you just need to... _wake up!_

When Ingrid woke up the next morning her head felt like it was stuffed full of cement. It always did the day following an inappropriate loss of her control. She remembered Seth, Sam and another wolf, she thought his name might be Brady, getting her out of the bar before she could beat that logger to death. She remembered telling them what had happened and talking to her brother. That was it though. She must have fallen asleep, Ingrid had a pretty good idea of who had taken her home and put her to bed. Seth. What was she going to do about that situation? Ignoring it had led to her act of insane violence and she couldn't let that happen again. Perhaps it couldn't hurt to get to know him a bit better? She still had no intentions of getting romantically or sexually involved with Seth, but maybe indulging him in his need to get to know her better would help in keeping his pack from pushing at her.

Eventually she got up and made her way into her kitchen. Once there she was again greeted with a Clearwater handing her a cup of coffee after having started a fire in her hearth.

"Your family likes my kitchen." she said.

"Huh?" Seth asked.

"Your sister... you know what... never mind." Ingrid was suddenly very much aware of the fact that she had very little idea where she wanted this conversation to go and even less of an idea on how to get it there.

She took the mug in her hand, breathed in the scent, took a sip and sighed. "Coffee... the ambrosia of life."

Seth let out a snort. "Addicted much?"

"The only thing that I love more than a mug of hot coffee is my twin."

Seth's eyebrows raised. "I'm sorry, coffee isn't an addiction for you, it's a religion. Is Starbucks where you go to pray?"

Ingrid just smiled and handed him a bowl. "All I can cook for breakfast is scrambled eggs and I don't have any eggs. So... Rice Krispies?"

They both sat down to big heaping bowls of snap, crackle and pop. For a little bit there was total silence, then Seth began to fill the silence with questions. As Ingrid listened and answered she realized this was how it always was, he asked... she answered as much as she felt like it. She never asked him anything. The question was though, was it because she had no interest or because she was angry?

"Look Ingrid..." Seth seemed unsure how to proceed. "How sure are you that you aren't going to phase?"

"Absolutely positive. Why?"

"Because." he said. "You shook like a leaf in that bar. You looked exactly like we do when we're about to phase from anger. How can you be so sure? I mean, your bloodline isn't even diluted, from what you've told us you're a direct descendent, on your father's side, of the most dominant wolves in two countries. So I don't understand how you can be so sure."

Ingrid leaned back into her chair, knocking back a swig of coffee, now wishing it had some kick of the alcohol variety to it. The nice thing about _not_ being a shape shifter? Alcohol was still useful.

"The average age to shift in Norway and Sweden is twelve years old. That's not because we force it on those we think will shift or because we're genetic freaks. It's because the vampires are swarming all over the fucking place for damn near six months every year. Fall is bad, but winter is hell on earth. By the age of fourteen... if a child of a shifter hasn't phased, they aren't going to. I'm twenty two, trust me... it's never going to happen for me."

Seth looked at her and narrowed his eyes, like he had heard something he needed clarification on. "You sound a bit disappointed. Why?"

"Well... two reasons. The first is that while being a wolf blooded gives me a certain amount of status and rank among my people... wolves have more. They also have more freedom, once they get themselves under control that is. Being a full, fluffy member of a pack is a massive honor, one that all of us wolf blooded had hoped would be ours... and it isn't." She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts, then continued on. "Not that I'm turning cancerous with jealousy or anything, but that freedom you have, when you change forms, I would love to experience that.. just once."

Seth snorted "We feel more like it's a bit of a curse for the most part."

"Than you and your pack are fools Seth." Ingrid's voice was hard. "You have the power to protect your people against threats that no one else can, the ability to live long enough to see things that the rest of us can only dream of. You get to make a difference and stand between innocent people and evil and hold that line, you should be thankful. Most people can only have daydreams of being that useful and important."

Ingrid nearly shook in her anger and disbelief. None of her people would ever dream of being so dismissive of the gift of shape shifting that Fenris had given them. To do so was to tempt him into taking it away. And the Doom Wolf was singularly savage in dealing with ungrateful whelp, or at least... that's what the myths said about him.

Seth held up his hands in a symbol of surrender. "Can we chalk this one up to cultural differences? Something tells me that there's a ton of things we do differently and this is only scratching the surface."

Ingrid nodded, then continued. "The other reason is the anger. I can't channel it the way you guys do. After you've shifted, that anger, that fuel... it's been mostly used. I mean unless you truly have an anger management issue, most of you aren't walking violence bombs. But for a wolf blooded, it's like we have this wolf spirit in us, that's smaller than the ones of the regular pack members... and it can't get out and it tries, tries to make us shift... but it can't. After a while... it's like it goes psychotic inside of us. Without the proper support system of a pack, or damn near iron clad control... my kind end up dead or in prison. So, yeah... we have major violence management issues. The less dominant your wolf parent or parents are, the worse it is. Wolf blooded children of omegas _never_ leave their pack's territory."

Seth eyed his imprint carefully "But you're the daughter of the Jarl, so for the most part, you have the iron clad control."

"Yep." Ingrid finished her coffee and poured herself another cup.

After that they ate and drank in a sort of companionable silence. Each going over their impressions of the other... again. They did this a lot, this constant assessment of the other. For Seth, he was trying to make a connection with his imprint, a good part of him was doing it unconsciously. For Ingrid, it was sizing up a threat and she too did it mostly unconsciously. Still though, the mental circling around each other did not stop. No imprint in his pack's history had ever actively fought the imprint like this, with an absolute and total refusal and it made Seth's inner wolf lurch about in confusion. If the tug of war made him chew tablets of headache medicine... well Seth didn't feel the need to mention it.

After cleaning up from breakfast, Ingrid made Seth take the first shower and she sat on the ottoman and looked warily down the hall as she listened to the water. She realized Seth wasn't a threat, but he was still a wolf and she was still in territory that belonged to a pack not of the Fenrir. Ingrid had training and instincts that made it hard for her to totally relax in that situation.

When he finished and got out, Ingrid took his place, letting the almost scalding hot water massage away the tenseness from all the stress she had been under for the last three weeks. She knew that no one here understood how she felt, how this imprint felt like prison to her, like she couldn't breathe. Back home not only did everyone know how she felt... but for the most part they agreed with her. No one liked Dagmar all that much and while his pack still followed Gunnar and respected his strength, he had lost a portion of their love for how he had treated his wife and children when he imprinted. Ingrid had run with her father and brother's pack long enough for everyone to know to just leave her the hell alone about the subject of imprinting and Dagmar... let alone Marit.

As she toweled herself off afterward she remembered something that her friend Enni said once: _"Your family is like a fire. When it's contained, the flames keep us warm and help us protect our people. But if it ever slips out of the fireplace, those flames will burn us all alive... it'll be civil war."_

Ingrid hadn't bothered to disagree... the constant stress of that situation had made her leave, she just wondered what could possibly be the reason for her to be the perfect baby maker for Seth. Unless there truly was some sick fuck up there who thought this situation was funny.

Walking back into the main room of her house she saw Seth fiddling with one of her camera lenses. The most expensive one.

"I'm not saying that that lens is more important than your life... but it's a close second."

Seth looked over at her. "You have so much camera equipment, why?"

Ingrid spent the next few hours explaining how all the equipment worked, the fundamentals of photographic composition. How portraiture was different from landscape photography which was different from still life photography. She showed him some of her portfolios, her eyes shining as she talked about one of the few things that made her truly happy.

Seth watched her face as she spoke, this was a side of her that he had never seen before. This was an unguarded Ingrid, someone who was happy. It made him incomparably sad that he had yet to cause her to be happy. The ruthless urge that was imprinting kept screaming at him to make her happy, to make her choose him... and could he _please_ get to making little wolf babies! He was twenty years old and up until he looked at Ingrid he hadn't really thought about kids, but now the urge to reproduce was thrumming in his veins. Every time he saw her neck, he wanted to bite her on the back of it... he was starting to think that his wolf had gone nuts in there... or just spastically horny.

Except... that when he wasn't wanting to mate her in a far more primal sense than he was displaying... he wanted to go hunt an elk and drop it at her feet to prove that he was a good provider. Seth was seriously considering jamming a ball gag into his wolf's mouth and then sticking a straw into a bottle of some strong scotch to level himself out. All these damn urges, some of them contradictory would just _not stop_. And to top it all off, because the Shitfest Olympics of 2010 weren't over yet... he had the insane urge to call up her twin and demand that Magnus cede any rights to her over to Seth's pack.

He was sure that getting buck with that beta brother of her's was about the dumbest thing he could do right now. Save for jumping Ingrid. So he smiled and listened to his imprint talk about her artistic passion to him whilst silently threatening his wolf with everything up to and including castration so that it would shut the hell up.

When he finally left for patrol, he was cranky, sarcastic and an all around pain in the ass to be near. Eventually Quil had enough and yanked on his tail so hard that Seth went ass over heels. After that... he just thought about the Seattle Mariners, which was still depressing... they were in yet another losing streak.

XXXXX XXXXXX

The following afternoon Leah was polishing off a plate of brownies when her little brother plopped into the kitchen chair next to her. Leah had moved out of her childhood house years ago but she came home once a week to spend the afternoon and then dinner with her mother and Seth.

"Things not so happy in imprint land?" she asked.

Seth actually growled at her. "Yeah Leah... it sucks okay? Are you happy now? You found someone who feels EXACTLY like you do about imprinting. Someone who hates it just as much... fuck... she may actually hate it even more than you do. And she's my imprint!"

He paused for a second and then leaned his elbows on the table and put his head in his hands. "And I don't blame her. I'll never forget how much you cried when Sam broke off the engagement, how angry you were at Emily, how sick you got." He pulled a hand over his eyes and then let it flop down to the table. "Looking at Ingrid makes me think of you. How if Emily had visited just a few years later... you could have been just like Ingrid's mother, how your daughter or son would have grown up to _be_ Ingrid."

Leah's head was down, neither sibling would meet each others eyes"I know, I used to think that what happened between me and Sam was as bad as it could get but I was wrong."

She reached over and shoved a brownie in Seth's mouth. "Eat, brownies make everything better. I think I ate La Push and Forks out of brownie mix after Sam imprinted."

"I remember." he replied... around a face full of chocolatey goodness. "It was the only time you would come downstairs. The kitchen constantly smelled like Duncan Hines brownies."

Leah cleaned up the mess and looked around the kitchen. Moving out of this house had helped her a great deal. Living someplace else, someplace that held no memories of her and Sam, of her father, it made things easier. She could walk in the front door of her apartment and be confronted by images of only her. In a life where nothing was hers anymore, not even the sanctity of her own mind... living alone kept her sane.

"I'm not gleeful Seth. I mean yeah... I'm not going to lie, it IS nice to have someone who agrees with me about how much bullshit imprinting is. But I don't like seeing you hurt, you're miserable and I hate that. I guess you could say that I'm really conflicted right now." she said.

Seth washed down the brownie with milk. "You aren't the only one Lee. After what happened to you and then watching Quil become a shell of himself with Claire... imprinting isn't something I've wanted. I was hoping that it would pass me by... it's supposed to be rare. But I'm the fourth one to imprint. Damn near half the pack is imprinted... how is that rare?"

Leah smiled at him. Seth had always tried to support her, first before they phased when she was reeling from what had happened between her and Sam and then afterward, when she was grieving their father and having her skin crawl from being forced to share minds with her former fiance and all his thoughts about Emily. Seth had always been there. Maybe not always happy about it, what young adolescent male would be? Nevertheless, he had always been loyal.

After she had moved out, she had one bad night, awful actually. She had thought that the day she moved away from home, it would be to move in with Sam and that's what they had been planning until her cousin came to visit. So walking into that empty apartment by herself had been depressing. After that night though, she had never looked back and she had her brother to thank for that. He was the one who told her to move out, to get away from all the damn ghosts haunting her... to be satisfied with life again. She wasn't all the way there yet, but she had started down the road because of Seth. Looking down at him, she wished she could figure out how to do the same for brother.

"You know Seth, the elders say that each wolf has to be what his imprint wants him to be. Maybe you're so upset because you want something that she's unable to give to you." Leah said. "Maybe you should accept what she can offer to you now and then see if it changes later. But also accept the fact that it may never change."

Seth banged his head on the table. "You mean be happy about the fact that my imprint bond is all fucked to hell and go with it?"

"Pretty much... yeah. Besides, it could be worse... she could have been a preschooler." Leah replied.

Seth threw the brownie pan at her head. "Shut your mouth."

As they cooked dinner for their mother the two siblings talked and joked. Regaling each other with jokes heard and silly mistakes made. They hadn't patrolled together lately... so this was the first they'd really been able to spend time with each other since Seth had imprinted.

Later, after Leah went home that night, she thought about the woman who had imprinted on her brother. She wanted to get to know her a bit better. Why not just go back over to her house and say hello? She sighed as she gathered everything together for her meeting with Jake, Sam and Paul tomorrow. The schedule wasn't working anymore and it was time to go over it... again. She had time in the morning though... yes, the morning. She would stop by Ingrid's house and see if she could get to know her brother's reluctant imprint then.

XXXXX XXXXXXX

Ingrid was working in her dark room when she heard the doorbell ring. When she got there she saw Leah Clearwater at her front door.

"Come on in." she said.

Leah stepped through the front door and took a better look at her surroundings than she had the first time she'd been here. The place was decorated in warm, reddish toned woods and looked like it had been built in the twenties or thirties. All the furniture seemed to be upholstered in greens and dark browns. As she walked through the rooms following Ingrid she noticed that there were books and photo albums everywhere... but little in the way of personal decoration. The house was comfortable but besides letting one know that the person living here liked to read and was a photographer... it said next to nothing about Ingrid.

Leah was led into the kitchen and given a cup of coffee.

"I'm almost done in the darkroom, just give me five minutes and I'll join you." Ingrid said as she hurried back into the room at the end of the hall.

Leah looked over the kitchen while Ingrid was gone. The woman clearly had a love affair going on with coffee that rivaled Leah's long and deeply committed relationship with chocolate. There were several different kinds in canisters all over the counters. The kitchen looked like it was older than the rest of the house, like it was the sole survivor of an earlier property. There was copper cookware hanging over the enormous farm table in the center of the room, though from the patrols that the pack ran by her house, Ingrid never had any guests to actually need a table this large.

When she came back in, Ingrid watched Leah looking over her kitchen with the eyes of a hawk.

"Trying to figure me out for your brother?" she asked.

"No." Leah replied. "I'm trying to figure you out for myself. You're interesting."

"I try. So... you hungry?"

"I could eat." Leah said. "Though, I'm a wolf... I can _always_ eat."

Ingrid called for pizza delivery and then sat with Leah at her table. Looking at the she wolf, the woman looked like having a regular conversation was akin to having minor surgery done. Less than comfortable.

The Norwegian finally cracked. "Okay, we can stare at each other until the food gets here or we can try talking. I promise that I don't bite... not that it would hurt you if I did."

Leah took a deep breath and then fired off the question she had been wanting to ask Ingrid.

"You said that being the only female wolf in my pack must suck back when I spent the night here. Are there more of my kind where you're from?" Leah's voice was so hopeful that it was almost painful to listen to.

"Yeah. Plenty. My father's pack has four and when I left there was a fifth girl who was showing the signs of being a pre phase. Though, whether she turns out to be like you or like me remains to be seen." Ingrid slid her some more coffee. "Fenrir packs are pretty big, even the urban ones are a bit sizable, though rural packs are always the largest. Anyway, four or five female wolves is about the average for each pack. They are definitely a minority, but they aren't rare."

Leah's eyes shone with tears. The sheer emotional weight of not being the only one anymore was tangibly off her shoulders. It was like something had shifted inside of her. She was no longer a freak, no longer unique and alone. Even if she never met any of these female wolves, the fact of their mere existence was... paradigm shifting.

Ingrid raised that eyebrow of her's. "I take it that your pack hasn't had a female in it for a long time?"

"Try never." replied Leah.

She smiled brightly at Leah. "Well it's only 11am, but this still calls for a celebration... besides it's not like we aren't going to be eating pizza."

Ingrid got two beers out of the fridge and uncapped them then handed one to Leah. "Cheers. Here's to knowing that you're not alone anymore."

Leah drank to that and soon thereafter the pizza delivery man came and the two drank a few more beers and ate . It turned out that they saw life in very similar ways, beyond their opinions on imprinting. Life had been hard on both women, taken away a lot of things from them and left them with little that they could do about it. They had ended up with a mindset that valued self sufficiency above all things.

As Leah got up to leave to head on over to her meeting Ingrid called out for her to wait. Then she disappeared into her office and came out with a large manilla envelope with a bunch of papers in it which she handed to Leah.

"I remembered about that plot of land that your alpha wanted you guys to keep an eye on. The one with the crystal huggers on it. Anyway, I called one of my friends in my pack, Enni, she's damn good with a computer and she got me all this info on the history of that particular parcel of real estate. It's quite the tale." she said.

Leah took the envelope. "Come with me... you might as well brief me at the same time as Jake, Sam and Paul."

Ingrid sighed and agreed, after offering to drive Leah, who had 'wolfed' it up to her house, then she put some shoes on and got in her car. As she drove, she sincerely hoped that this meeting would go better than her last one had. She was really not looking forward to butting heads with a beta on a regular basis. It wasn't particularly good for one's health. So with a certain amount of trepidation, she drove to Sam Uley's house and hoped they could get along better or at least not so openly get on each others nerves.

When they arrived, the three male wolves seemed surprised at Ingrid's presence but not so much surprised that she appeared to have struck up a sort of friendship with Leah. The she wolf told them why Seth's imprint was there and they all went and sat at the kitchen table.

First the top four discussed the patrol schedule. It was Collin and Brady's senior year in high school coming up. They started next week and it was important that they graduated on time and with decent grades. The pack had learned some hard educational lessons with some of the older wolves and were determined to show that they had learned from them with the twins. Not for the first time did Sam and Leah both express their relief that they had been finished with high school when they phased. After figuring out how to cut the two youngest wolves some slack without running the rest of the pack into the ground they discussed some treaty specifics having to do with the Cullens. Veggie vamps still threw Ingrid for a loop, but she said nothing.

Eventually Leah told them about the info that Ingrid had gathered for them and they all turned to her. For a moment Ingrid looked like she wasn't going to say a word and then with military like precision, she began.

"I'll spare some of the in depth stuff for you to read about, it's all there in the report. Anyway, that land was owned by the diocese of the Catholic church that is responsible for Forks, La Push and the surrounding areas, from the turn of the century till 1944. Before that it was in the court system as to who owned it, the Quilluete tribe or the town of Forks. The diocese offered a sum of money to be split between both groups in 1903 and both the tribe and the town accepted that and the land became the property of the church.."

She pulled out the court case paperwork and the legal sale documents and put them on the table, then she continued. "The church used it as a camp for under privileged urban children ages 5 to 12 until 1933. That's when it gets ugly. It was right in the middle of the American Great Depression and the camp had more kids than they would normally be allowed to have on the property. There weren't enough counselors and there were a few accidents. There was talk about shutting the camp down early that year but ultimately, it stayed open. Ultimately and unfortunately."

Ingrid pulled out the accident reports that Enni had forwarded to her and handed them to Paul who had reached for them. Then she continued, though this time with a pained look on her face. "There's no easy way to say this. On the night of August 2nd, 1933 there was what can only be called a massacre at the camp. Only two children survived. A little girl named Dorothy O'Grady aged 10 and a little boy named Joseph Visselli aged 8. Every single other human being was killed, a lot of the bodies weren't found, though the amount of blood spilled was inconsistent with human life. In other words there was too much blood spatter all over the place for the missing to have lived. The two survivors were found hidden in a tree, whether they climbed up it or where placed there by one of the older kids or adults to save their lives they never said. Both grew up to be severely emotionally affected by the incident and Joseph Visselli was institutionalized by the time he was 13 and stayed that way until his death at the age of 53."

"Jesus." Leah muttered.

"How in the hell do we not know about this?" asked Paul.

"Because the church did their level best to keep it out of the papers." Ingrid replied. "At that time the Catholic church, hell _any_ church had far more sway and power than they do in today's society. No reporters were allowed in and the clergy put a lot of pressure on the parents of the children killed to not talk about it. People knew, but the gossip dried up quickly when there simply wasn't enough put out there to fan the flames. If you jogged the memories of your grandparents, they'd probably remember the incident or at least the talk about it if they were too young to have actual memories of it first hand."

Jake rubbed at the headache that was growing behind his eyes again. "Save me from G-d's followers, they screw up more than they help sometimes."

Ingrid dumped the rest of the papers onto the table and finished the gruesome tale. "The killer or killers were never found and even though the area was combed thoroughly for the missing bodies, they were never found either. The diocese held onto the camp for eleven years after that, but as you can imagine... no one wanted to work there after they found out what had happened. Finally the church sold the land back to the federal government in 1944 and it lay fallow until a few months ago when the Fellowship of Self Actualization and Happiness bought it. Those would be the crystal huggers. They appear to be a cult that has mixed Christianity with your basic British Isles pagan beliefs."

Then with a flourish she pulled out some photos. "While there were no reporters allowed in, the crime scene photos still exist and I have friends in low places and was able to get some copies made. I've seen this kind of thing before. The savagery, the way these bodies look. A vampire or group of vampires did this. If I had to hazard a guess I would say it was newborn. The overkill is obvious and their thirst is immense, if changed and then abandoned... this is what they will do."

Everyone grimaced when they looked at those photos, not a single one of them was hard enough to not be moved and disgusted by the sight of the children's bodies. Sam pushed them back into the envelope, not wanting them to pollute his table for a second longer.

Jake looked over at Ingrid and his voice was heavy when he spoke. "Thank you for getting this information for us. Though I have to say that I find it a bit disturbing that you can spot a newborn attack just by looking at some photos."

She shrugged and replied "I don't have my tattoo for show. I earned it."

As they discussed further possibilities about the cult and what they were doing up there to make Charlie so suspicious, Leah and Paul left for their patrol. Both were talking about the information and finishing each others sentences as they walked outside to phase. The anger leaked out of both of them and it was hard not to feel a bit sorry for anything they found while they were running. Leah and Paul were the exact same level of dominant and when provoked they had the exact same level of savage anger. Though Paul had always needed a bit less provoking than Leah. Regardless, right now... they were provoked and Jake and Sam were more than a little bit relieved that they had a channel for it.

As Ingrid got up to go to her car and head home the alpha and the beta stopped her on the front porch.

Sam looked her over and finally said what he and Jake had been wondering how to phrase. "Look, Seth told us what you told him about you not phasing. But still... at that moment, you truly looked like you were going to slip your skin and pop claws. Are you sure? Maybe you just were never provoked enough."

Ingrid stood by the driver's side door of her car and looked at Jake and Sam. "When I was ten years old I hid in a closet with my brother and listened as vampires drained my mother dry. He's a wolf, that started the process for him. If _that_ didn't do the job... _nothing_ will."

Jake and Sam watched her drive away, neither of them could find a reason to argue with her.

**AN: Just to squash any hopes or speculation, I feel it necessary to point out here that Ingrid is not a she wolf in hiding. She will never change and I hope that that does not ruin things for anyone. It is a question that I have been asked and felt should be answered.**


	7. Chapter 7

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Thank you to those who have read, reviewed and/or added this story to their favorites. I enjoy hearing what you think, so feel free to review. Another delay... I know, but real life with two children and school has been taking precedence over writing. Even though sometimes chapters may take me a while, this is a story that I have every intention of finishing. I must extend my thanks to MelWolfgirl and Midnitestarr for plot hunting, Hilja for her encouragement when I wanted to take this chapter and light it on fire and as always may I heartily recommend the betaing services of Pippynz. One last note, the Sami, who are referenced in this chapter are a semi nomadic tribal people who live in the extreme north of Scandinavia. They hunt caribou and some maintain wild reindeer herds. They are considered to have an unique cultural persepctive in the countries that they live in.

Chapter Six:

The autumn brought, as it always did, a gathering darkness to the Fenrir. As the days abruptly grew so short, the desperate training of the new phases ground to a halt. The fresh faces were put on patrols, their untried strength replacing those who were still newly in their graves not quite a year. The cold burned their paws, snow already on the ground. The wolf blooded, both young and old sharpened their weapons. Rural packs made sure every home, every family was prepared to defend themselves if they had to. Urban packs tightened their alliances, patrolled with constant vigilance. Mates and imprints of wolves took their places, some with weapons, some with medicines, some with other gifts and other skills. Every single Fenrir greeted the autumn with defiance, ready to face the coming winter with everything they had. The Fenrir were warriors, not one of them would yield... not ever.

In the northernmost territory held by the Fenrir, the Jarl Pack already faced increased vampire activity. Soon they would find themselves embroiled in Winter War. For now, they concentrated on beginning the evacuations of the most northern villages. The people who lived there made a brisk living on caribou herds and fishing during the spring and summer months... but come autumn, it became too dangerous for them to live in their ancestral homes. Some of the villages were in territories that became so inhospitable that not even the might of the Jarl could keep the inhabitants safe come the cold and the dark. So they were evacuated to more southern towns, every year some of the people would stay, declining to return to their homes, would start new lives. Lives that were less chained to the whims of armies they could barely understand.

The Jarl's beta, his son Magnus, sat at the window in the main hall of his pack's home. They lived communally in a great stone manor, built 800 years before by a previous Jarl. A fallen Jarl, one eventually executed for his crimes. The irony in that made Magnus smile without a shred of mirth. Everyday was a tightrope, everyday he tried to help his father lead their people, everyday he tried to mitigate the influence of his stepmother, the bolverk Dagmar. Everyday he failed just a little bit more than he had the day before. Everyday he missed his twin and wished for her to come home. And everyday none of what he wished for or worked for came to pass. Sometimes he thought he was becoming used to failure.

Magnus and Ingrid used to say that they had been together from the moment they were conceived, and that they would be together till the day they died. Then Magnus had become a wolf... and Ingrid had not. On that day, somehow he know she would never phase, everyone thought she was just late, but he knew... somehow, he knew. It was a frightening thought, knowing that someday he would be without her. That one day he would look back, centuries from now, and think that his time with her passed in the blink of an eye. That perhaps... one day... he would be the only one who would remember her tale. It made him pensive, sad... and determined. Determined that she would not live a life trapped and bound to anything she didn't want. He knew if the situation were reversed, she would do the same for him. So he had argued with his father, damn near challenged him for her right to leave. In light of what had subsequently happened, to say that he regretted that was an understatement of somewhat epic proportions.

His twin sister was now an imprint. Tied to a strange wolf, in a foreign pack, in a land not their own. None of it sat right with him or his wolf. Not only that, but the wolf who had imprinted on her was of low enough rank that he would never have been allowed to pursue her if he were Fenrir. They would be expected go their separate, if friendly, ways. The lowest rank allowed to court a wolf blooded daughter of a Jarl, was third. One of many reasons he was doing his level best to keep this information from his father. As the years had gone by, Gunnar had become unpredictable. There were more than a few probable ways he could react to the news of his daughter's imprint bond and absolutely none of them were good. So he hid it, tucked it away when phased, never spoke of it to anyone save for the one pack mate she had told on her own. Enni.

Enni was one of the pack's she-wolves. She was originally from an urban pack in Stockholm, Sweden, but had traveled up here 30 years ago to join the Jarl pack. When Ingrid started training the two had struck up a fast friendship. The she-wolf may have been 60 years old but she didn't look a day over 25. The three of them along with Dagnet and his family had formed a tight knit group among the pack. So it hadn't really surprised him when Enni had come to him a few days ago and told him that she knew... and that she was having a hard time keeping it a secret. Thus she had become his patrol partner until Magnus could figure out a way to let his father know, without causing what he was starting to think might become the wolf version of an international incident.

Magnus was pulled from his reverie when he heard footsteps, swinging into the hall came Enni, her short blond hair looking a little wind blown. She was whipcord thin, not as athletic looking as the rest of the pack, but her eyes shown with intelligence. Her laptop was at her side and she was talking into her cellphone. Enni always had some piece of tech attached to her. Magnus had joked once that if she ever figured out how to use her iphone while in wolf form, she could rake in the money from all the Fenrir.

She snapped her phone closed and looked at Magnus. "Freya's here and she looks pissed. She headed directly to Gunnar's quarters, so you might want to be prepared to do damage control. I was just on the phone with her pack's beta and she wouldn't tell me what's going on. Just inferred that Freya is about at the end of her rope."

Magnus looked heavenward and knocked the back of his head against the stone wall. Just what he needed, a pissing contest between the most dominant wolf and the oldest wolf amongst the Fenrir.

"Freya's been at the end of her rope with my father for almost my entire life. What makes you think this time is any different?"

Enni put her computer on the table. "Because." she replied "This time she decided to come up here at the spur of the moment, at a run, to tell him how much of an asshole she thinks he is. That's... a bit much, even for her."

Magnus chuckled. "Never let it be said that that old warhorse has _ever _done anything half assed. Dagmar will shit herself with the way Freya talks to my father."

Enni chewed her bottom lip. "Freya cares as much about what Dagmar thinks as she cares about my theories of digital satellite integration with the various governmental space agencies. Which is to say, that she cares not at all."

Magnus laughed softly again. Freya was old... so old that she didn't even know how old she actually was. That gave her a certain amount of leeway that no one else among their people had. She had watched Jarls come and go. She had watched this hall be built 800 years ago and back then she had been old. It was said that she was _that_ Freya. The Queen of the Valkyries, the one who the myths of Freya, Odin's wife, were based on. The old wolf would snort when that was whispered around her. To her credit, she had no patience for her hype or her fan club. All she would ever say, when asked about her long life, was that she was waiting for something to finally be deadly enough to kill her. An intimidating statement that did absolutely nothing to dispel the hype she had so little patience for.

The beta went over to his 13th ranked pack mate. Enni was not dominant at all, but she had something else, she was by far the smartest of his wolves. Magnus never let an asset lay fallow, he had recognized something that many of his rural brethren had not. The 21st century was something to be embraced, not run from. He encouraged his wolves to get educations, to learn about the world around them and then to bring that knowledge to the fight they faced each year. He never turned away new strategies simply because they were new, he turned them away if he knew they wouldn't work. Merit and success were the things he cared about.

"How goes the evacuation planning?" he asked.

Enni opened her laptop and pulled up a spreadsheet. "I've got a good schedule made. As long as nothing interferes with the implementation, we should have everyone out before winter comes. All the towns and halls have been notified that will be receiving the Sami. As long as your stepmother follows this, she should be fine."

It was the bolverk's duty to run the evacuations every year. Since Marit's displacement and then subsequent death, Dagonet and then Ingrid had run the mass exodus of the Sami from their territories. This would be Dagmar's first showing, she no longer had anyone to do her duties anymore, not without people questioning her ability to hold her position. Magnus prayed that she was up to the task and once again felt himself wanting to go and collect his sister. She was a far better bolverk than Dagmar could or would be. It felt deeply wrong facing their world without her.

Enni continued getting his approval for her various projects when they both damn near felt the need to go to their bellies. Gunnar was furious... and in his fury was practically forcing his pack to the floor. Magnus instinctively knew that every wolf and perhaps a good half of the wolf blooded in his pack were on their knees right now. Enni was on hers, bracing herself with her hands on the stones, attempting to not go to her belly. Freya's anger swept out over the pack as well. She was so old and so adept at working the mental bonds that held packs together that she could effect whoever she wanted with just about whatever she wanted. This was yet another reason why no one liked it when the Jarl and the Eldest fought.

Magnus came over to Enni and gently placed the palm of his hand on the back of her neck then he pulled her in to his side. She almost hid there for a minute, her whine of distress coming from deep in her chest. For the more submissive wolves, this level of aggression flowing through the pack, when not directed at their enemies, was very difficult to take. Magnus kept her pressed to him till the whining stopped and then looked at her.

"Hey, it's okay, you're good, you're not the one they're angry at."

Enni took a deep breath and nodded, then she stood up and shook herself almost like a dog trying to get something nasty out of her fur. "Whatever the hell they're arguing about... it's bad. I wouldn't want to be in the room with them right now. Not for all the money in the world."

Magnus was about to say that he didn't have that luxury, when they heard the door slam with a resounding boom and quick, angry footsteps coming their way. With the tightening in their chests both Magnus and Enni could tell that one of the verbal sparring partners was headed their way.

"Oh shit." Enni breathed. Then she plastered herself to the wall and looked at her feet, desperately trying to make herself unnoticeable and not important.

Freya stormed into the room like a hurricane about to break on the stones of the hall. Her dark blue eyes were damn near flashing and every muscle was tense. Until Magnus one day assumed the mantle of Jarl, he was not dominant enough to contain Freya, all he could hope to do was stand in the wake of her anger and not get swept under. So he stood and met her eyes, but he made damn sure that every other part of his body language radiated that he was aware that she was more dominant than he.

The Eldest Fenrir looked the beta over, huffed and walked close to him. She spared a quick glance in Enni's direction and made a calming noise in her throat to calm the skittish she-wolf. Then she turned her attention back to Magnus.

"I go back to my pack unsatisfied with the Jarl's answers... _again. _Someday beta... someday his actions... or more appropriately... his _inaction,_ will cost him." Freya's voice was tight, angry... and it made his hackles freeze. She was a dangerous wolf to make an enemy of and it seemed that today, Gunnar was bound and determined to make her at least his adversary, and at worst... his enemy.

As abruptly as she came into the hall Freya swept out of it. Leaving a wide eyed Enni and a momentarily speechless Magnus behind her.

"Well" Enni drawled. "That went... well... that went shitty."

Magnus took a deep breath and then looked down the hall towards his father's quarters. He could hear his father growling and knew it would only be a matter of time before he would be called to wait upon his needs.

"Enni, unless you think you're up to dealing with an angry Jarl.. I'd go find someplace else to be. He's about to hit the roof again." Magnus' voice was damn near exhausted. He was so tired of smoothing things out for his increasingly erratic father and his father's always erratic wife. It was never ending and he was quickly finding it hard to recall a time when it hadn't always been like this.

Enni didn't need to be told twice. She gathered her things and hightailed it out after leaving her laptop with Magus so he could show the evacuation schedule to Dagmar. Then she was out the door and gone to her own quarters, as far away as she could get from the Jarl's family drama.

Magnus on the other hand started counting, he only got to four before his father bellowed for him. As he walked down the hall to see what he wanted, Magnus wished... for about the 57th time... that Ingrid had never left. As dominant as he was, he just wasn't suited to dealing with all of this without her. And he feared that said more about his ability to be a good beta than it did about anything else.

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Seth was... content. He was sitting on his sister's living room floor with Quil and Embry. Ingrid was making popcorn with Leah in the kitchen. Her burgeoning friendship with his sister was working out to his advantage. He got to see Ingrid without it being so awkward. Seth was trying to do what Leah had advised him to do and accept that his imprint did not want him romantically. It was hard though, the pull was still there and it seemed like it was trying to tell him something, something about what it was that she needed. But he couldn't figure it out and so had just settled into a strange sort of tense friendship with her. It wasn't perfect, but it was what it was and he was trying not to pretend it was something different. Like Leah said, Ingrid might never be able to accept him and he, for his part, had to be ready to acknowledge that.

Tonight Leah had decided to host a movie marathon. Seth, Quil and Embry were fixtures at these things. Collin and Brady were on patrol with Jake. While Sam, Emily, Jared and Kim were hanging out at the Uley house together, having dinner. In the past year Paul had become a fixture at Leah's movie marathons as well, a development that had surprised everyone, because up until then, they were busy threatening to kill each other every other day... and bumping each other back and forth in rank almost as often. In fact, he had bumped her 5 days ago and was third again. Seth figured it would last, at most another day.

Speak of the devil, Paul arrived with an armful of dvd's. "Who's the jackass that put 'Annie Hall' on the list? The clerk was looking at me like he thought he might want to give my description to his gay cousin or something!"

Embry looked up. "That was me, I love that movie."

"Are you _sure_ you're not gay dude?" Paul's eyebrow was raised.

Embry looked long suffering, very long suffering. "Positive, you asshole."

Leah popped in. "Assholes? Who's asshole are we talking about here... because I have a theory about some of you, you know."

Paul, Embry, Seth and Quil groaned. They had heard her theory before. It was some bizarrely long thing about heterosexuality and imprinting and gay wolves. And really, it took about an hour and a half and three bottles of scotch before Leah had run out of steam. It had made absolutely no sense to anyone but her and no one really wanted to hear the theory again.

Seth threw a magazine at her. "Lee, I will pay you not to tell anyone that theory ever again. Hell, I will pay you never to think about that theory ever again."

Ingrid sat down in a chair with some popcorn. "I wanna hear the theory. Maybe I can use it the next time one of your council members calls me up to 'discuss'" She used air quotes "my imprinting. Might get them to shut up."

Seth looked at her. "Who's been giving you trouble."

"They mostly give my answering machine trouble." Ingrid said. "I have caller ID and have memorized their numbers. They haven't actually talked to me in about two weeks. We'll see how long this stretch can go."

It had been a little over three weeks since Seth had taken Ingrid home after she lost it in that bar. She still rebelled against almost everything he said, but now at least she seemed comfortable enough to be around him without practically climbing the walls. And whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had spent too much of her life in a pack to not enjoy at least a few of the social benefits of having wolves around her again. She always kept herself on the outskirts of the group and never let Seth talk for her, but nevertheless she was there. It was a small comfort to her imprinted wolf, but he was taking what he could get.

Two hours later, after 'Annie Hall' was finished and Paul and Leah were finished making fun of it, they put in the action movies. Leah's movie marathons were heavy on the explosions and the one liners. Everyone settled back and began to drink beer and take in the mindless entertainment. Two things became abundantly clear. The first was that yet again, they just didn't have the money that it would take to get themselves drunk on beer. The second was that Ingrid could drink like a fish, she had drunk enough that any human her size should have been intoxicated. But she seemed only mildly buzzed.

"Ing, maybe you should slow down on the beer." Seth sounded worried and everyone except for Quil groaned; G-d forbid an imprint have any fun that might possibly not be perfectly healthy. Their wolves started to become constipated mother hens when they did.

Ingrid looked at him. "Wolfblooded, I can't drink as much as you guys, but I can drink a lot without becoming drunk. Besides, we Fenrir like to um... celebrate? Wine, sex and song.. mead, ale... we all have the tolerance of your average burly dock worker. Wolf, wolfblooded or normal human, drinking is a talent for us."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Of course it is, why would you have normal hobbies?"

"Do me a favor kid." Paul said "Shut up and let her fucking drink if she wants to. What do you think she's gonna do... moon the Cullens with her naked ass?"

Embry and Quil laughed and then Quil offered to pay Ingrid money to do just that.

"How much are we talking about here?" she asked.

"Um... twenty five bucks?" he replied.

Ingrid looked like she was thinking and then shook her head no. "Sorry Quil... my naked ass is more expensive than that."

Leah looked at Seth's frown. "Hey at least she has standards." She was barely containing her laughter.

Seth just grumbled and watched 'Die Hard 2' with everyone else. Everything was going fine and then the twins showed up. They had just been relieved by Sam and Jared and had decided to come over and watch the last two movies of the marathon before hitting the sack. The thing that people always forgot about the twins was that Collin and Brady, though they looked about 25 years old, were only 18 and even though life had forced a bit of maturity down their throats, it hadn't magically made their brains and sense of restraint 25 years old... that was still firmly in the teenage years.

They were looking for a place to sit and noticed that all the higher ranking pack members had taken better seats, so they looked at Ingrid and went over to where she sat, to take her better seat. They weren't trying to be rude, this jostling just came with being around a pack. There was just one thing that was different, for a human, Ingrid was pretty damn dominant. As they went to move her, she snapped her teeth at them and stared hard at the two, stared them down, then she snapped her teeth again. Collin and Brady reacted the same exact way, as though they just been chastised by a higher ranking wolf and backed away from her with their eyes down and found other, not as good seats.

Everyone else stared at the three of them. They had _never _seen a human try to make a wolf acknowledge said human's dominance and win. Ingrid saw them staring and looked at her beer.

"I outrank them, I'm more dominant. In my old pack, dominant wolfblooded had ranks and some of us were more highly ranked than a few of the wolves at the bottom of the totem pole. In case anyone cares... if I were actually in your pack, I would outrank Quil too. But not Jared, so I'm not ridiculously dominant." Her voice seemed strained.

Seth looked at her, studied her. Everything about Ingrid spoke of being stuck halfway between being a shapeshifter and a normal human. She was very tall, towered over Emily, Kim and Sue at 5' 11" but she still had to look up at the shortest wolf; Leah, who stood at an impressive 6' 1". She was dominant and aggressive, normal humans tended to stay out of her way or else they seemed to understand instinctively that angering her was a bad idea, however all but the more submissive wolves were not intimidated by her. One moment she would be with them, seemingly at one with the wolf social structure, and then she would tear herself out of it and reject it with a fiery anger. He wasn't sure if it was being wolfblooded that made Ingrid so contradictory or if it was just who she was.

The silence was thick when Embry decided to be nice and break it. "So, now that we know that Red over there can make Quil, Brady and Collin her bitches, which I say is sort of awesome by the way, can we please finish Die Hard 3? McClane hasn't said 'Yippie kiyay motherfucker!' yet and I'm not leaving till he does."

Leah threw some popcorn at him. "Bitch, you aren't leaving till we finish Die Hard 4. Revenge of the plotless movie!"

Ingrid settled back and smiled at Embry, then lifted her beer to her lips. Seth absentmindedly nodded towards Brady.

"Hey, is Jake coming or not?"

"He went to check on his dad and then he's headed over. Looks like you got everyone except Sam and Jared tonight Lee." Brady replied.

Leah shrugged and looked at the floor for a minute and then went into the kitchen to get some more snacks. Paul looked at Brady and frowned.

"Brady, we all know that Sam never comes to these things and we all know why. How's about we stop bringing up the obvious." Paul's voice was tight, but it wasn't with anger.

Brady slumped under the weight of the more dominant wolf's disapproval. "Sorry, Jared rarely comes either... though that may have something to do with the prank she played on him last time. Look I just wanted her to know. I'm sorry, I won't bring up Sam on movie marathon night, okay?"

Paul nodded and then nudged some food over to Brady. A wolf coming off of patrol was a hungry wolf. As Brady reached for the plate of snacks he knew that he was forgiven. Collin soon joined him and they began eat with the speed of starving shrews.

Leah came back with sandwiches and then Embry pressed play. Within ten minutes McClane said his famous line and they were just putting in the next dvd when Jake and surprisingly enough Charlie came in. That was, more than a bit unusual. Sure, Charlie was in the know ever since Jake had phased in front of him those years ago, but that didn't mean that he attended pack meetings or did a lot socializing with them outside of things that involved Sue. He kept them informed of suspicious happenings in the area and they in turn would give him information on any human criminal activities that they came across on their patrols of the rez. That was the extent of it, so Charlie being there with Jake on movie marathon night was a surprise, to say the least.

Everyone tracked them as they walked back to where the food was, gathered some and went out onto Leah's balcony and shut the door to talk. Paul and Leah looked at one another and got up in unison to see what was going on. But when they got to the sliding glass door, Jake turned and shook his head, effectively stopping them mid stride, then he made a hand gesture that clearly said 'No listening in.'. So they went back to the living room and turned up the volume of the TV. No one really cared about Die Hard 4 after that except maybe the twins, who had never seen it before. It irked Paul and Leah that they had been dismissed, and for a moment _they _were _third._ Sometimes this happened when they were equally distressed, they would share rank, for a minute or two. And right now _they _were _third_ and _they_ wanted to support their alpha. But they were not beta and so at this time he did not call for them.

Their anxiousness reached reached Jake's nose even through the glass and he turned again and looked them both in the eye and nodded. Acknowledging their worth to him and his need for them, but that right now, he needed them to keep the pack from listening in. Body language conveyed so much when it came to the pack and Jake's needs were perfectly conveyed to the third and they turned. However, in that turning, they slipped out of place with each other and in doing so, Leah settled into the third rank and Paul settled into the fourth rank. As usual, the pack shifted slightly when it happened and then everything went back to normal.

About an hour later Charlie opened the door and said his goodbyes to Leah, Seth and the rest of the pack. Then Jake flopped done on the recliner that had been left empty as soon as he had arrived, it was the best seat after all.

"So, has he said the line?" Jake wasn't going to tell them what was going on and that was fairly obvious. Which was unfortunate, because sometimes his pack could be like a sorority with how much they talked to one another. And tonight they were less than subtle about their curiosity. Finally after the fishbowl effect had been going on for far too long Jake took pity on them.

"You will all find out tomorrow. So watch the damn movie and attempt to enjoy the rest of the night. I want a beer and some popcorn and at least one hour of mindless entertainment."

And so that is exactly what Jake got. And afterward as the pack got up to leave he stretched, popped his knuckles and ankles and walked out the door with a pithy look to Leah and Paul, muttering about how he should just start calling them "Leahpaul, seeing as how they're starting to share rank more and more these days."

Neither one thought that was amusing and Paul left two minutes later muttering "Asshat..."

Ingrid, who had stayed quiet and utterly still for most of all this stood up, blinked and turned to Leah as she and Seth were cleaning up.

"Can I sleep here tonight? I think that last beer was one beer too many and I don't want to drive impaired."

Seth looked at her. "I can take you home if you need. It's no trouble."

Which was sort of an understatement. Seth was a loving boy, who had become a loving wolf, who had matured into a loving man. He wanted to help Ingrid, do things for her... not that she let him. So little things like giving her a ride home, or picking up something if she dropped it were a big deal to him, because it was sort of the only thing, outside of giving her space and just being a casual friend to her, that he could express any sort of bond to her.

Ingrid shook her head. "Normally I'd say yes, but you have patrol in about three hours, you need a nap before you go running around daring vampires to take a chunk out of you."

Seth began to open his mouth when Leah cut in. "Sure, I'll get a pillow and blanket for you from the hall closet."

Seth took a long look at Ingrid, said goodbye and left. As he went, Ingrid passed her hand over a ring she wore. Nothing special, just a small pearl ring, but it was her mother's and she wanted so badly to have her mother there with her right then, they way she used to be. Happy, strong... alive. But somethings cannot be no matter how hard we want them and Ingrid turned to the sofa and tried very hard to not think about being alone and afraid in a closet, holding onto her brother as her mother died for her children and their father was nowhere to be found and probably wasn't even thinking about them. She tried very hard, but failed miserably. Like her brother, she thought that she was getting used to failure.

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Magnus was in the hall's kitchen. A giant, stone behemoth of a kitchen, two hearths and an enormous wooden table. He had had an early morning patrol, or what passed for morning in the autumn, and had missed breakfast. Missing breakfast had meant that when he woke up it was with his stomach wrapped around his backbone. The act of eating an omelet that was a bigger than his head had a certain appeal to it and that was exactly what he was doing. One ten egg omlette later he was leaning back on the bench and enjoying being full when a rich throaty laugh rang out, one that made him take a deep breath of the scent that denoted the one who laughed.

"Yvanne" He said simply.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was an older wolfblooded, starting to age, with a few lines that told the people around her that she had life experiences, if one wanted to learn them. Her grey eyes were sharp, she never missed much and she had a tendency to laugh at it all. Something about life being too long to spend it being morbidly serious. Her slightly tanned skin was a bit flushed from being outside, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail that was coming a little loose in light brown tendrils. However, her toolbox, with stickers of pithy quotes on it, hit the table as she tossed it and then she leaned over and snagged the last bite of his omlette.

"You know, people usually ask before they filch a beta's food."

Yvanne nodded. "_They _do, I don't. Not with you anyway."

She ditched her coat on the table and then perched in front of Magnus. "So... I fixed the plumbing issue that we were having, but if they break one more time, not even I can finesse those suckers into lasting one more dark season. I'm gonna need PVC and in all honesty, I want to make a large order because I might as well start replacing all the stressed pipes now instead of later."

Yvanne was an engineer and she was the one who had finished modernizing the hall. A project that had taken almost 30 years. It was not easy dragging an 800 year old stone structure kicking and screaming into the modern world, but Yvanne had managed to finish it when no one else could. She could fight if she had to and was known to take sentry duty close to the hall, but her primary function was to keep the Jarl Pack's home in working order. A huge job that required her to have a staff and an endless supply of patience and creativity. Also, a sense of humor; as she would say, once you've had to wade through the waste disposal area for a pack of wolves... nothing really gets to you anymore.

Magnus reached out and and tucked a tendril behind her ear. "So... are you done stealing my food?"

He had a soft spot for Yvanne and found her very intriguing. Yes she was older than him, both in actual years and in appearance... but he didn't really care. She was the only person in this pack who openly laughed whenever she goddamn felt like it. Wolfblooded didn't live as long as the rest of the pack, he had limited time to know her, to be around her. So that tended to make him a bit territorial about his time with her when he knew that she would age and die most likely centuries before he finally slipped the mortal coil.

She leaned into his touch and perhaps things might have progressed a bit, if Enni hadn't come careening into the kitchen.

"Magnus! We got injured coming in here! Dagonet and Hilde were patrolling with Sindre, they caught a group of vampires trying to get south of us. No vampires survived, but... Sindre is hurt pretty badly. He got bitten, really good... it's venom Magnus, a lot of it!" Enni's voice was tight with worry for her pack brother.

Yvanne was already up and running before Magnus even said anything. "I'll get Karolina."

Within moments Dagonet and his longtime mate Hilde, the fourth ranked wolf in the Jarl Pack came in with a seizing Sindre. Sindre was a member of the northern Sami people and had been a wolf for 5 years. He had an excellent nose, and was one of the pack's better trackers. As Dagonet held him in his arms, Hilde swept the table clean and then the four of them attempted to hold his body down while he jack knifed and ground his teeth uncontrollably. Venom was poison to them, the great equalizer. Vampires and shapeshifters were equally strong, equally fast for the most part too. But the packs were able to smell them and hear them in ways that vampires just couldn't touch, their senses gave them an edge. However, the vampires had an edge too. Bite a wolf and let enough of your venom leak into their bloodstream and they don't turn, they just die noisy, painful and slow.

Magnus, Dagonet, Hilde and Enni looked at each other over Sindre's heaving body. Enni began to hum a popular lullaby that the Sami sung to their children in an attempt to calm him. Dagonet leaned over and his deep baritone voice helped the young man to focus.

"My imprint is coming, Karolina will know what to do. Your only job is to hold on until she gets here. We will help you, let us help you."

Hilde's voice was rough with worry, but she spoke to him from where she held down his left leg. "You fought well today, you made kills for your people, now just let us take care of you."

Magnus intoned the prayers to Fenris to help one of their pack stand strong in the face of an onslaught. It didn't really matter that the onslaught wasn't the field of battle, it was a makeshift medical table in a kitchen. Battle was battle, large or small.

Yvanne came running in with Karolina in tow. The younger woman cast one worried look at her two mates who were holding their patrol partner down and for the barest moment the pack's primary medic's heart clenched and she thanked Fenris privately that it wasn't either of them on the table. It could so easily have been.

She quickly told them to make room for her and she reached into her bag and drew out what looked like a carved bone scalpel. Shapeshifters had neigh unpreneterable skin and it was hard as hell to find or even make surgical instruments that would cut on them. One day, long before Karolina had been born, someone realized that the same material that they used to make weapons for the wolfblooded would work for the medics. Vampire bones. So the smaller shavings left over from the making of weapons were then made into scalpels and such.

Karolina cut into the flesh where Sindre had been bitten and the scent of the venom burned into the four wolves' noses. The flesh had turned black. She squeezed the muscle and it bleed a sickly blackish green. The medic closed her eyes, back before she had done this so many times, she would have tried futily to save him and done nothing but prolong his agony. There was no way to save him, once the flesh itself wept venom from deep within the muscle tissue, there wasn't anything anyone could do. Sindre had been too far away from help to save him, the venom was completely throughout his bloodstream.

She looked at Sindre and touched his forehead briefly. "Go before us and welcome us when we arrive."

Then she turned to Magnus. "I'm sorry beta, but there's nothing I can do, nothing anyone can do. Now... he only suffers for no good reason."

There was a time when this was the Jarl's job, to give the mercy blow that would end a venom infused wolf's life. It wasn't a dishonor to die in this way. The complete opposite in fact, to die, in battle against a great foe; well, for the Fenrir, there were few deaths that were more honorable than that. But just because something was honorable did not mean that it was pleasant. Magnus could remember the pain in his father's eyes the first time he watched Gunnar do it. Then... things had changed.

Dagmar felt the practice was barbaric, that mercy killings were the mark of a savage people and that instead every effort should be made to save a wolf's life. An easy thing for a woman without medical training to say. And for one winter her word had been law because the Jarl had made it so. And for one winter Fenrir had lain screaming as they died in crippling agony that could have been ended. After that winter the wolves of the Jarl Pack came to their then beta Dagonet and demanded something be done. To save a wolf from that death was a blessing, but when it wasn't possible, to let them linger was a massive cruelty that no pack mate wanted a brother or sister to endure. Dagonet had presented Gunnar with his pack's resentment and eventually a compromise was struck. Dagmar refused to even hear of her mate participating in what she was convinced was a terrible sin. So Dagonet had taken over this duty, when Magnus became beta, it became his duty. No parent should ever force their child to do something that they themselves will not do. No matter who is pulling their strings.

Magnus nodded at Karolina and watched the medic stand near her sister-wife Hilde. Then he took a deep breath, out of the corner of his eyes he saw Yvanne leave the room for a moment and come back with a long box in her hands, then he leaned over and cupped Sindre's face.

"You have done well. You have run with us and fought with us for five years. You have made your pack stronger and made your people safer with the strength of your body and the strength of your spirit. Your fight is over now and it is time to go and wait with Fenris for the day that he is unchained from Yggdrasil and the last battle is fought. Are you ready?"

Sindre made the enormous effort to look his beta in the eyes, he heard Enni humming, felt her, Karolina, Hilde and Dagonet holding him to the table, holding him steady. He locked eyes with his beta and nodded. He was ready.

Magnus swiftly jerked Sindre's head to the left and slightly upwards, breaking his neck and ending his brother's suffering. Stepping away from his pack brother's now empty body, he too felt empty, felt his pack rearrange itself to deal with the vacuum that Sindre's death had left. The four wolves felt their pack mates phase and howl, one of their own was dead. It was time to mourn, however briefly autumn would let them. The first casualty, there would be more in the coming months.

Yvanne and Karolina began to unwind the white clothes that they would wrap him in. Dagonet, Hilde and Enni held the body up and the two women swiftly covered him. Magnus left to go to his father's quarters. He needed to know who was going to go with Gunnar to inform Sindre's parents that their son had died. As he walked he felt a rage that was so white hot that he needed to stop and lean against the wall for a moment. Sindre deserved to sent to Fenris by his alpha, not the poor substitute of his beta, it wasn't right, he had deserved better.

XXXXXX XXXXXX

When Ingrid woke up in the morning she blearily stumbled into the shower and got ready, then she walked into Leah's kitchen where Seth greeted her with a bowl of cereal.

"When did you get here?" she asked.

"While you were in the shower. Did you sleep well?" he replied.

Ingrid began to eat Lucky Charms and gave a short laugh. "I slept the deep sleep of the tipsy with a comfy pillow. So... yeah."

Seth smiled openly at her and ate a mixing bowl filled with cereal. He still didn't know how he felt about Ingrid, deep down. But he knew that he liked eating with her, laughing softly to himself he wished she could cook a bit more, but hey... he liked spaghetti and meatballs as much as the next guy. The conversation was light, he asked her what she was doing in the coming week and she told him that she was working on a commission for another brochure, this one for the Makah rez. It would seem that the goal for the tribes of this area was to lure eco tourism into the area. If it worked, it could solve a lot of issues that the tribes were having in this economy. While the talk between them wasn't intimate, he still enjoyed the look on her face when she talked about using some new lens filters that she had recently bought.

Leah literally stumbled in soon after and got herself the ridiculously unhealthy breakfast of a Snicker's bar and a cup of coffee. She looked at Seth and shrugged. "I don't cook breakfast, never could figure out what exactly I'm supposed to do with an egg."

Ingrid laughed. "Jesus Leah, even I can scramble one."

As soon as she saw herself being easy with Seth, laughing, leaning a bit towards him, she mentally chastised herself. '_This isn't real, he has no choice, if there's no choice... and you get comfortable, then you're no better than Dagmar.'_

That thought had the immediate effect of her suddenly pulling back and paying close attention to her overly sugared breakfast cereal.

Seth made to follow her but Leah subtly caught his eye and nodded no. He wanted to though, even though he knew that she would react badly to it. If imprinting was supposed to level a wolf out, make him blissy and in touch with his inner om... he wanted to know where ulcers came on that list, because he was pretty sure that he was forming one. An angry one.

As they were finishing up their breakfast, Jake, Sam and the rest of the pack came inside. They sat around Leah's table and started helping themselves to the food. Sam looked around her apartment, he always did when he was here, not that was an often occurrence. He always seemed to find it lacking, like it could be, should be... better.

Leah huffed. "So are you ready to tell us all what the hell was going on with you and Charlie last night? You totally froze me and Paul out."

Jake smiled warmly at his former beta. "Yeah, that's why we're here actually. I would have brought them all to Paul's place, but he doesn't have any food."

Ingrid sat and watched them all, silently spooning cereal into her mouth and attempting to go unnoticed. Going to a movie night was one thing, but pack meetings tended to leave her feeling spiky and unsure of herself... not to mention homesick. They all seemed to settle into spots in a way that reaffirmed their dominance and submissiveness. Ingrid was left to sit between Lean and Seth, and quietly she watched them as they spoke about the cult that seemed to constantly come back up, like a bad penny.

Jake started. "According to Charlie the state police found a body that washed up on the bank of the Hoko River. The body was identified as Jonah Soren. The last his parents heard from their son, he was going to live with that cult north of our borders. Charlie got in to see the body and noticed a bit of chewing that looked familiar to him, from when those nomads blew through Forks years ago."

"You think that the newborns who went through there decades ago are back?" Jared asked.

"I don't know." he replied. "Whatever is going on, Charlie has reports sitting on his desk from people trying to get in contact with family members up there. He tries to get them to come down to the station, but they refuse. He can't do anything because they're all 18 and over so they aren't missing or minors, so his hands are tied."

Sam sighed. "So what does that have to do with us? I mean, it sounds like a human problem. I sympathize with the people who can't get their family members away from the cult, but I don't see what it has to do with us."

"Something about that place has Charlie on edge and it had Carlisle on edge too. The Cullens are visiting in Denali and aren't around to do anything about it. So that leaves us."

Jake seemed almost eager to help Charlie. The man was an important figure to Jake and like it or not, one of the last concrete connections that he had to Bella. It may have made his pack uncomfortable, but Jake's love for Bella had been very real and while it no longer held him to her like a lost puppy the way it had, there were some times when he thought back on what had happened and wondered what his life would be like right now if she had chosen him instead. Those times were less and less though, it _had _been five years. But still, when the chance came to reconnect with the Swan family, he always took it. He knew nothing would change, knew that Bella was a hard, cold leech and that she was happy with Edward, he knew that and he accepted it. He just had to get his mind to relinquish the last few fantasies that it kept in there.

Embry looked almost excited, there had been very little action in the area lately. It's not that he was an adrenaline junkie by any stretch of the imagination, but when you can throw yourself off a cliff, miss the water, hit the rocks... and not die, it changes you. He enjoyed his life on the rez, having a place, a niche that was something that made him feel whole. The pack did that for all of them, but still... they were warriors and at some psychological level, almost spiritual level, they needed something to throw themselves at, to combat and hold the line against. That part of them could only remain contained for so long before it leaked out, sometimes in unhealthy ways, so Embry, along with a lot of the rest of them, looked somewhat eager to have a possible enemy again.

"One of us could go in, pretend to join the cult, sort of undercover I guess. Take a look at what's going on. It's not like anything could happen to us." he said.

Quil immediately jumped on board with that plan. "Yeah, that's perfect, whoever it is can look around, get info, figure out what the hell is up with that place."

Collin agreed. "Every time I pass by the northern boundary I feel like something's just not right with that place, you agree Brady?"

Brady looked thoughtful for just a moment. "I don't know, it may be that we feel that way because we know what happened there... and saw the pictures. Maybe it's just a freaky cult and even though it's creepy, nothing dangerous is going on there and well, people have the right to believe in freaky cults if they want to."

"True," Jared said. "But what about that body, Charlie isn't a jump the gun kind of guy. He always assumes that whatever it is that he deals with is human in nature and approaches it from that angle before he comes to us or the Cullens. For him to bring this to us in the first place makes me think something's going on up there that's more our department."

Seth looked at Jake. "Either way, I think we have to find out one way or the other. If I'm correct, Charlie can't get anyone in there in any sort of undercover capacity for two reasons. First, _everyone, _knows the four cops who work with him. There's no way anyone would believe that they were random people who decided that their lost souls needed to commune with G-d at a cult. Secondly, I don't think that he has probable cause. Just circumstantial evidence and if it is supernatural... what the hell is the justice system going to do with that? If nothing else, we can rule things out for him."

Sam listened to everyone before he gave Jake his opinion. That ability to listen to each individual's point of view and weigh it in his mind before coming to his own conclusions was one of the things that made him the superlative second in command that he was. Jake could always count on the fact that Sam never did anything by the seat of his pants.

"Jake, they're right. It may be that this is nothing. Or it may be that we're about to relive what happened there in the 1930's. We all know that there are families with children and pregnant women up there and none of us want see a repeat of what those pictures showed us. We have to get someone in there, if it's nothing, great. But if it's not, we need to be prepared to deal with it."

Jake nodded and looked around. "Okay, who goes in? Brady and Collin are a no go. You guys have school and quite frankly, your parents will string me up by my balls if you two don't graduate."

The twins looked disappointed. One of Jake's first acts as the alpha of the reunited pack had been to grant an exception to their parents. It was getting close to impossible to keep the secret from them and Mrs. Redclay had been about to call the authorities because of all the time her underage sons were spending in the woods with grown shirtless men. To say that they hadn't taken it well had been an understatement of almost divine proportions. But after about a week of panic attacks, the Redsclay's had become sort of parental figures to the entire pack... and Janice Redclay had been known to attack the alpha's ear when she thought he wasn't listening to the people he should be listening too.

Then Jake looked at the rest of his pack. "Sam, you just don't look the part, neither does Leah, you're both too... grounded to even come across as the type who would belong to a cult. Paul, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you have the patience for this type of thing."

Paul had gotten much better from his days of furploding at the slightest insult, but that didn't mean that his was a perfectly even keeled mentality... it wasn't. He wasn't suited for this sort of thing and Paul himself knew it, so he didn't push it, merely nodded and agreed.

Ingrid watched all this and and finally rolled her eyes and snorted. "Oh for the love of Yggdrasil... I'll do it."

Seth immediately stared at her. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?"

Jake was a bit taken aback too. "I'm sort of with Seth on this one Ingrid. What makes you think you should go in there?"

Ingrid pointedly looked at each of them. "Because each and every single last one of you would stick out like a sore thumb there. You couldn't blend in if you tried and if there is something supernatural going on up there... they'll damn near smell you coming! Hell, if it is supernatural, they _already_ know about you."

She then looked at Leah. "The shortest one of you is six feet one inch tall. The rest of you are taller, muscular guys that look like the picture of health and really... the only thing less subtle then the lot of you would David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust period, and Lady Gaga, but that's it!"

"That's all well and good, but why in G-d's name would we send you?" Sam asked.

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. One, I can get rid this accent of mine at the drop of a hat and sound like a born and bred American." And as she spoke all trace of her Norwegian accent disappeared. "Two, give my hair a dye job and a bad haircut, put some old clothes on me, and I can pretend to be a cult's favored acolyte... the homeless drug addict. Third, you will need actual surveillance, that kind thing requires equipment that you don't have and that Charlie can't lend you without documenting it and having a damn good reason why he's letting you use it. I on the other hand, have a lot of that stuff and know how to use all of it. And lastly, I've done it before and I can tell none of you have."

"What do you mean you have that kind of equipment?" Seth's voice was tight and he wasn't sure that he liked that his imprint seemed eager to throw herself at an unknown, possible enemy. Scratch that, he _knew_ he didn't like it.

"Well, I have video equipment that looks like buttons and such. Also I have very small cameras that I am well schooled in getting clandestine shots from. Plus I know how to place larger video equipment to get large area surveillance." Then she shrugged. "And I know how to be unobtrusive and just blend into the background, get into places and look like I belong."

Jake looked at her, considering her. "How do I know that you can do what you're saying you can do?"

"Jake, you can't!" Seth's voice was angry, he couldn't believe that Jake was actually considering this.

Sam immediately turned to him "Seth, watch yourself."

The younger man growled at his beta. "You're the one who damn near got in a fight with her because she wanted to go to a bar and you wanted her to go be Betty Crocker in your kitchen with Emily and Kim!"

Seth could be forgiven for growling at Sam, he was stressed and it was revolving around his imprint so Sam gave him a bit of slack, which was why he didn't truly go at him for trying to act dominant with him. However, that didn't mean that he was letting that growl go.

"First of all Seth, don't growl at me. Secondly, after watching her kick the crap out of three lumberjacks, without breaking a sweat, I'm inclined to think she's not exactly a damsel in distress."

Seth snorted at him. "If it were Emily you wouldn't be so zen about this and you fucking know it Sam!"

Sam sighed. "But it isn't Emily and whether I like it or not, the more time passes the more I am forced to admit that your imprint isn't like mine or Jared's. Ingrid isn't Emily or Kim and quite frankly, it would appear that she's capable of things that they just aren't."

Seth loudly snarled at Sam in a very challenging way and things were about to get ugly by the way Sam was staring him down, when Jake's voice boomed out.

"THAT is ENOUGH!" The alpha command rippled through the pack and there was silence. Jake rarely used this ability of his, only when he felt it was truly necessary.

The he turned his gaze back on Ingrid. "You didn't answer my question."

Ingrid pulled the left hand sleeve of her shirt up, exposing her pack tattoo. "This is how you know. This isn't some advertisement of my bloodline, or that I'd make good breeding stock. This tells everyone who knows what to look for that I am a ranked member of a pack. Wolfblooded have to earn these. They are not simply given to us after we finish training and a few of my kind never receive this particular tattoo. Having this ink in my skin tells you all you need to know."

"I need more than that Ingrid. Have you truly done this before?" Jake asked.

"Yes. It was my primary function in my pack. I'm very, very sneaky and very, very stealthy. My father and brother have used me for recon purposes for years. I know exactly what I'm doing." she replied.

Jake looked at her cell phone that was lying next to her cereal bowl and reached out and flicked it towards her. "Call your father or your brother, I don't care which one, I need to hear it from one of them before I send you in there."

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Magnus stood in his rooms, staring out the window and mourned the loss of his pack brother. Sindre had been a good wolf and a better man. Having to put him out of his misery twisted his gut and left him feeling like he was adrift. He couldn't go to his pack mates though, they depended on him to be the stable rock they leaned on, especially in the wake of what Gunnar had become ever since he imprinted. Even Dagonet, Hilde and Karolina, whose family comprised a sort of support system for him and his twin, relied on him for this. Not as much as the others though, but Dagonet had done this for years without complaint, Magnus couldn't lean on his third ranked for this. To do so would be a mark of disrespect to the man. So he just leaned his head against the cold glass and listened to the wind swirl angrily outside. He liked to think it was because the sky itself was angered that the first Fenrir had fallen to the enemy this year.

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts and as he approached the door his nose told him who it was. He opened it and drew her inside.

"Yvanne." He ran his nose up the side of her neck and inhaled her scent deeply. If he was honest with himself he would admit that his encounters with her were far from casual, but he refused to be honest with himself when it came to her. It was safer not to.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. Everytime he had to do this since they had begun whatever it was that they were to each other, she had come to him. Became what he needed, to get through the night after ending a pack mate's life.

"I know that it hurts, let me make it better Magnus." Her eyes crinkled at the edges as she looked at him, not with pity, but with understanding.

Sometimes Magnus wondered if doing this meant that he was using her, other times he just felt that being with her, being in her, was where he was supposed to be. Especially after something like this. His hands drew her closer to him and as his lips met hers, she murmured that she had him and that it would be alright.

It wasn't romantic and it wasn't slow. He hurriedly brought Yvanne to the bed and quickly divested her of her clothes. And while he loved the taste of her skin and liked to linger there with his tongue, tonight he contented himself with a few licks, a few small tastes. When he wrapped her legs around him and entered her, she arched herself up to him and held onto him tighter. And when he spilled himself over the edge, she came with him soon after, panting out his name.

The second time however, the second was slow and it was lingering. Magnus watched her stretch and whimper beneath him as he rubbed on her. He loved the way she looked like that and had no idea why no one else in the pack had claimed her as their mate by the time he grew interested. When he eased himself inside her, his wolf rumbled in his head in contentment. He liked it here... with her, wanted her. But Magnus was busy not being honest with himself about Yvanne and quite frankly, so was his wolf a lot of the time. When she was shaking, crying out as she came, he watched her face contort and once again thought she looked beautiful that way. Then he didn't think much about anything because he too was following her over that edge again.

Afterward as he lay there with her, wrapped around her with her head tucked under his chin, he reflected that he preferred she wolves and wolfblooded lovers to normal humans. With the first two he never had to worry about them getting too hot, he could hold Yvanne to him as long as he wanted and not worry about anything. With his nose buried in her hair so that her scent could calm him further, he began to go to sleep, she had fallen asleep a few moments before and her breath was steady and even, as was her heartbeat and he let the sound lull him. Right before he was about to slip under he peered through one eye and saw a silver hair of hers amidst her brown ones. He decided that he liked that hair, it represented just one more story of her life that he wanted to learn.

He was more than halfway asleep when there was a booming knock at his door and his father's voice startled him to an immediate sitting position.

"I'm coming in there Magnus so you better be awake!"

Gunnar's voice sounded less than pleased and Magnus could smell Dagmar with him. He looked at Yvanne who was sitting up next to him and then he growled slightly. He had learned long ago that it didn't matter if Dagmar learned of his more casual sexual encounters, but the ones that had meaning, the ones that he had an emotional tie to, those he didn't want her to find out about. He hadn't had a lover other than Yvanne for two years and the day he had realized that he felt more than he usually did with his encounters, he had actively hidden it from his father's imprint. Dagmar had always enjoyed having leverage over her mate's children and she was less than subtle about using it. So the twins had begun hiding things from her and by extension their father when they were still children. But now, there was no choice and Dagmar was going to see Yvanne with him, naked, in his bed and Magnus could only hope that she wouldn't think too much of it.

As Gunnar came striding through the door, Dagmar right behind him, Yvanne pulled the the blankets over her breasts and Magnus couldn't stop himself from angling his torso in front of her, shielding her from the view of two people that very sadly he had come to view as adversaries.

Dagmar's eyes slid over that gesture and looked at the older wolfblooded for a a second or two. A second or two that Magnus did not like. The she turned to Magnus.

"I just had the most... enlightening conversation with Enni, well more like I overheard her leaving a message on your cell phone and then got your father and we both had an enlightening conversation with her. You and your sister ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Your father loves and cares for you both and you intentionally go behind his back and hide things from him. You set a bad example for the rest of your pack." Her tone was the epitome of condescension.

Magnus inwardly winced. Enni was no match for Gunnar, and Dagmar damn well knew it. He _hated_ the way she would use Gunnar's dominance over the more submissive members of his pack. He wasn't sure what he hated more, that she used Gunnar like her own personal weapon or that the Jarl let her do it. A small part of his mind briefly lingered on the fact that he barely even referred to Gunnar as his father these days.

However he didn't get any more time to contemplate much as his father growled at him. "You KNEW that you sister had been IMPRINTED on by a foreign wolf and you DELIBERATELY kept this from me!"

Gunnar was furious and the way he was staring at his son, all naked aggression, had Magnus tilting his head and baring his throat. He could feel the waves of anger flowing over him, but with Yvanne behind him he refused to whine or go to his belly to appease him.

The Jarl strode over to Magnus' pants and grabbed his phone and thrust it at his son. "Call. Her."

His voice was all business and it was more than a little amazing that the demand wasn't an actual alpha command. Magnus closed his eyes, he had been trying so hard to keep this from happening and now it was out of his control. Now the Jarl had control and whichever way that he handled it, it wouldn't be good for Ingrid.

"Father... maybe you should wait until you're..."

He never got the chance to finish because faster than he could blink, his father had his chin in his hand and was forcing him to look up at him.

"Get on that phone and call Ingrid. Do you understand me?"

Gunnar had Magnus' chin in such a hard grip that Magnus could barely nod. When he let go, the beta spared a glance Dagmar's way and saw the woman looking... pleased. It was times like this that Magnus agreed with what his mother had said the day this nightmare had started. His father was dead and what was walking around now was just something had replaced the loving man he had once known.

He was about to dial her when his phone rang. Both he and Gunnar could see that it was Ingrid. Gunnar just jerked his chin towards the phone, his message was clear. Answer it.

So he did. "Ingrid, funny that you should call."

He had no idea how to tell her what had happened.

Ingrid cut him off. "Hey Magnus, the alpha of the La Push pack needs to talk to you or our father and I chose you."

"Ing, wait." Magnus spoke over her.

"Put her on speaker." Gunnar's voice was like ice, there was nothing warm about it at all.

Magnus did as he was told and when he did Gunnar looked at the phone like he could ignite it with the power of his gaze.

"So you decided that you could just be imprinted on and not tell your father, your alpha?"

Ingrid's voice came through the phone, tight with anxiety and even Magnus could tell that there was a little bit of fear.

"Oh shit..."


	8. Chapter 8

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Thank you to those who have read, reviewed and/or added this story to their favorites. I welcome all types of reviews, I want to hear your opinions on what I'm writing here, so don't be shy. Criticism is welcome, as long as it is constructive. The beginning of this chapter was very difficult to write and took a lot of time. Some characters come easily, others... not so much. **Stares at Seth and Gunnar. **Anyway, I hope you enjoy the latest offering.

**Hefors:** In response to your question, no not all the Fenrir are Sami. They are a nation of 14 packs spread throughout the countries of Norway and Sweden. The Jarl is the most dominant of the 14 alphas and functions as their overall alpha, the closest analogy would be to a king. Because he is the most dominant he controls the most dangerous territory, which happens to be populated by the Sami. While some Fenrir do happen to be Sami, not all of them are.

Chapter Seven:

In Seth's long life he would always be able to pinpoint the day it all shifted, the day he truly began the journey from being a cub to being a man. It wasn't, as most would incorrectly assume, the day he phased in a desperate attempt to keep his father safe from a raging and barely just phased Leah. No, instead it was the day he watched his imprint get yelled at over the phone by a deep voice thundering in a language he couldn't understand. He heard her breathe the words "Oh shit!" and then _everything_ about her changed. Her eyes hit her feet, her upper body slumped into an almost abjectly submissive pose and her neck was utterly bared to an invisible presence that that voice represented. Seth was not stupid, it took him very little time to figure out who that voice belonged to, with her brother sounding like he was trying to appease the owner of the voice, it could only be one person. Ingrid's oft wondered about father: Gunnar Jarlsson.

He had no idea what they were talking about. The conversation was in Norwegian and the only thing he had managed to learn in Ingrid's native language was how to say good morning. However he didn't really need to know what was being said to get the gist of it. Gunnar was obviously furious with his daughter and was borderline yelling at her. Ingrid was barely getting a word in edgewise, and when she did it was in a small voice, a halting manner. It made him about 10 steps beyond angry and right into furious territory. Someone was pulling rank on _his_ imprint. His wolf was practically slathering at the mouth. Someone was was dominating _his _mate.

When her father barked something at her that made Ingrid bare her neck to a degree that seemed totally unreasonable to Seth and then she went to her knees, the normally cheerful wolf was ready to pop a vein.

Jake watched the scene and it suddenly occurred to him that if this was any of the other imprints, he would be furious right now. He should feel like someone was threatening one of his own. The imprints were pack, maybe nowhere near as tightly bound to the pack structure as the wolves and maybe they were more like satellite members of the group, but the fact remained that they were pack. Watching Ingrid go totally submissive for another alpha should have made him livid, instead it merely made him uncomfortable.

It suddenly hit him, Ingrid Jarlsdottir was not a member of his pack. His connection to her was purely through Seth and it was a tenuous connection. He had a few protective instincts toward the odd redheaded woman but that was where it ended. And, as far as he knew, that was an absolute first.

While Jake was busy being a bit shell shocked by that revelation, Seth had had enough and was reaching over Ingrid and grabbing her phone. It was already on speaker mode so that was good, he was shaking enough so that he wouldn't have been able to figure out how to get it there in the first place. He snarled at a wolf so dominant that in comparison Seth was something akin to a flea.

"Talk in goddamned English! You're making me think that you're threatening my imprint and you DON'T want to be doing that!". His voice radiated a somewhat barely controlled rage.

Ingrid whined and sunk further to the floor. If Seth had been paying attention he would have realized that she was trying to give him a signal that his way of handling the situation wasn't exactly the best. However, each of the imprinted wolves seemed to be leaning in the direction of supporting their young packmate. Sam, Jared and Quil knew if it were their imprints on the floor right then... they might be halfway to Norway already.

There was an abrupt silence and then a heavily accented rumbling bass voice that oozed both dominance and strength spoke. "You must be Seth, yes?"

"I am and what the hell do you think you're doing making my mate grovel on the goddamn floor!" he spat back.

Gunnar chuckled and in the background they heard a woman huff and what sounded like Magnus snap his teeth at the sound.

"First of all, you low ranked puppy, I am her father... the man you should have contacted about this imprint as soon as it happened, regardless of what my rebellious daughter's wishes were." Quiet menace seemed to typify the Jarl right now. "Secondly, there are rules puppy, rules that I expect any man who wishes to mate my daughter to obey and you aren't following them. Now... I suppose I must make allowances for ignorance. However, those allowances have run out. What rank are you in your pack structure?"

Seth paused, not really understanding why in the hell his rank mattered, but he answered anyway. "Seventh, I'm seventh ranked in my pack. For all that it matters."

Gunnar laughed at him again. "Oh it matters puppy, it matters a great deal. Ingrid is the wolfblooded daughter of a Jarl, if she were a she-wolf it would be different. There are no rules on who a she-wolf can mate with, especially in deference to their heat cycle; but wolfblooded are different. Ingrid has no heat cycle, and as such there are rules. The lowest rank allowed to court a wolfblooded daughter of mine and mate her is third rank. This rule has been around almost as long as the Fenrir and it will not be ignored for YOU!"

Seth went rigid, Ingrid had said nothing, she had to have known and she said nothing. Perhaps she had been trying to avoid this whole confrontation, because as Seth suddenly realized, no matter how this played out... it would not be pleasant. It occurred to Seth for the first time that among her people Ingrid was akin to nobility; of course there were rules about courting her, mating her. How in G-d's name had he not thought of that? Her father was an alpha among alphas, some crazy mythological version of a wolf king, it was enough to make him reel a bit. Enough to wonder just why in the hell his wolf thought she was the perfect match for him, how this whole entire thing could end in anything but bad feelings and angry words.

Gunnar continued, obviously not caring if Seth had anything more to say to him. "If you were Fenrir and had imprinted on my daughter, you would have been expected to go your separate ways. You would have been allowed to be friends, but that would be the extent of your bond. If you had bothered to contact me, HER FATHER, you would have known this. But you chose not to. We live in a world bound by consequences puppy and now my daughter is about to learn that. I am finished talking with you."

Seth physically jerked toward the phone and Jake grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him backwards. Gunnar was dominant enough that his influence could be felt through a telephone, he had no wish to pit a low ranked wolf against that. Especially one of his own.

"Stand down Seth, if I have to, I'll make that an order. This requires a bit more delicate of a touch then you have right now." He passed Seth to Sam who held onto his younger packmate, the beta rumbling a comforting sound from his chest in an attempt to soothe Seth from doing anything stupid.

Gunnar, perhaps in a move to further humiliate his eldest child, continued to speak in English. "For your actions Ingrid, there are also consequences. You asked and received permission to live outside of the pack for one year's time. You were dominant and controlled enough to be trusted with that freedom. A decision that it would appear was premature on my part. I had originally planned on rescinding that permission and ordering you to return and that if you were not here in 48 hours, I would come find you myself, but your step-mother has come up with a punishment far better than that."

At the mere mention of Dagmar, Ingrid's fists clenched and her head snapped up, glaring at the phone like she was daring it to make her unhappy. Her heartbeat went into overdrive and Sam had to slam a hand on Seth's neck and demand that he not phase in Leah's kitchen to keep the shaking wolf from shifting forms.

"You are exiled Ingrid, for the span of three years. You will have no contact with any Fenrir, including your brother."

They heard Magnus begin shouting in Norwegian, the pack knew how tightly wolf twins were bound, Collin and Brady being an excellent example. They had no doubt in their minds that Magnus and Ingrid were similarly bound, regardless of the fact that Ingrid was not a wolf herself. They heard a fourth voice, a hushed female voice sound like it was trying to soothe the obviously upset beta. All of them found themselves wondering if the Jarl was purposely trying to tear what was left of his family apart at the seams, or more appropriately, if his imprint was.

"You are stripped of your pack rank and status for that time and will be considered packless, neither subject to our rules nor under our protection. It is a wide and hostile world my daughter and perhaps it is time you figured out how to navigate it on your own."

Ingrid let out a cry of absolute pain and crouched in a ball, her hands covering her face. She had been born a Fenrir, had always been pack her whole life. Even those four years of being removed with their mother had not changed the fact that she had always felt the Fenrir on the edges of her consciousness. Now, it was gone, with the words her father spoke her ties to them were severed and bleeding. Only one thread remained... the one that tied her to her twin. It would appear that not even the Jarl could sever that connection. She was still Fenrir, but only barely. And it was that single thread that kept her from being absorbed by the La Push pack, by Jake. Her soul clung to that thread, wrapped itself around it in a metaphor of the fetal position.

Seth broke away from Sam in a display of surprising strength and snarled at the phone. He helped Ingrid up and as he supported some of her weight as they walked to the other room he bit out what to him was the most damning accusation he could possibly make.

"You are the worst excuse for a father I have ever met!"

As they left the room Jake stepped forward. "Gunnar this is Jacob Black, the alpha of the La Push pack, Seth Clearwater is one of my wolves. Perhaps this punishment is a bit harsh. Your daughter has been extremely not forthcoming with information about the Fenrir, Seth had no way to know that he was expected to contact you nor that there were any rules regarding imprinting in your culture. Among my people the only rule is to except the imprint and what it brings to your life, whatever that may be. Ingrid has put up monumental resistance to the imprint bond and I can assure you, they are not a mated pair. She seems more angered that the imprint happened than anything else."

A female voice snorted. "Typical of her. She has always been bullheaded about the notion of imprinting, something I'm sure she learned at the feet of her mother."

Both Leah and Jake seemed astounded that the woman, who had to be Dagmar with that comment, would say something like that. It seemed somewhat self explanatory that Ingrid would hate imprinting with every fiber of her being, the mystical bond had destroyed her family. How in the hell did this woman expect her to feel?

Gunnar's voice sounded through the phone. "Be that as it may Jacob Black, the rules of the Fenrir exist for a reason and that reason is to keep our society running effectively. It is not my daughter's place to decide what rules are mandatory and what rules she can ignore at her own whim. The punishment will stand. You have no authority to demand otherwise."

Jake growled at the man's undiplomatic dig at Jake's rights over an imprint who was not a pack member, it made him want to throttle Gunnar through the telephone and see if that would solve a multitude of issues. Unfortunately, he had not yet learned how to dismiss the laws of physics so while the strangulation would have been extremely satisfying, it wasn't going to happen.

He sighed in complete frustration with the other alpha and then carefully judged his next words. Jake had never really needed to be a diplomat. Sam had handled most of the negotiations with the Cullens, by the time Jake had stepped into his role as alpha, there wasn't much negotiating left to do. When the packs had reunited a few years later, it was during a time of peace, except for the occasional nomad who hadn't gotten the memo that Forks and La Push were extremely dangerous ground for human drinkers, there had been no major altercations. Now, with the arrival of Ingrid the world had opened up, was larger than then their small slice of the Olympic Peninsula. In retrospect, he should have thought this day would happen, the vampires had a worldwide presence, why wouldn't shapeshifters as well? Jake was taking the first steps in making his pack a part of that worldwide presence, he could only hope that he didn't cock it up.

"Be that as it may, I need to ask a few questions about Ingrid's duties in your pack, her strengths and weaknesses. She has volunteered to do something for my pack that I need to know if she is capable of doing before I allow her to proceed."

Gunnar huffed and spoke in an almost bored tone. "My son, who is also my beta, can answer all your questions about Ingrid and the wolfblooded. He usually handles this for me anyway."

Jake's tone of voice was becoming more and more clipped and irritated. "Fine, can I speak to Magnus then?"

The sounds of two people exiting a room were heard and then a male voice that sounded utterly world weary came through the phone.

"This is Magnus, what can I do for you Alpha Black?"

Jake took a deep breath and then plunged on ahead in his first steps in foreign relations with another wolf pack that his tribe had ever taken.

"We have a somewhat delicate situation that possibly involves vampires. She has volunteered to infiltrate a cult that has set up very close to our borders and do some surveillance. Your sister insists that she's done this before and three of my pack witnessed her plow through three burly men at a bar some time ago and two of them seem to believe that she's capable. I'm unwilling to send her in there without some reassurances that she knows what she's doing. She's human for G-d's sake!"

"First of all" Magnus replied "She's not really human. Wolfblooded live a bit longer and physically age a bit slower than a human does. Don't you know this already? You should have wolfblooded of your own, no shapeshifter reproduces the gene perfectly 100 percent of the time."

Jake raised his eyes heavenward. That seemed to be the big question lately. "We don't currently have any wolfblooded, none of my pack has children and in the absence of a constant enemy like your people have, our pack goes dormant. The knowledge of who and what wolfblooded are somehow got lost in the ensuing years."

He had no intention of informing this man of the reservation system and the damage it did to the cultures that were forced into land unsuitable for their needs. The sheer amount of culture death that ensued afterwards. It wasn't his right to know about his people's pain.

"I understand." Magnus said. "Wolfblooded are stronger and more enduring than a human is, however they're weaker than we are. They can deal out a lot of damage and take a lot as well, but don't confuse that with them being just like us. They aren't and if you send them toe to toe against a vampire alone all they're going to do is get killed. The Fenrir train our wolfblooded to fight with us and certain ones that excel at it even patrol. Most of them do perimeter duty around our territories and all of them find some way to support the pack in a useful manner. The ones who are the best at it become full fledged members of a pack, as my sister is... was."

Jake nodded though he knew the other man couldn't see him. "She says you and your father used her for recon a lot. Is that actually true?"

"Yes." Magnus replied. "Ingrid was a fully integrated member of our pack. That's why she has the tattoo. Being a stealthy little bitch is her specialty. For whatever reason, vampires can't really tell the difference between a normal human and a wolfblooded unless they know what to look for, and just about none of them know what to look for. My people have used that to our advantage since as long as my sister's kind have existed."

Jake and Sam raised their eyebrows at each other, the world had just gotten very large indeed.

When Magnus spoke next he was almost completely devoid of emotion. "Thank's to my father's imprint, you've delayed meeting any of us for three years. My twin is your responsibility now. If something happens to her... I'm holding you personally responsible. No matter what my father or his imprint says."

With that the line went dead... and the phone got crushed by Jake.

"Well Sam, how do you think that went?" he asked dryly.

"It could have gone better to tell you the truth." the beta replied.

Collin huffed. "The only way it could have been worse was if that asshole and his wife had showed up personally!"

Sam leaned against Leah's fridge and swiped a banana from her counter top without looking. "So... she part of the pack yet?"

"You knew she wasn't pack?" Jake seemed more than a bit surprised.

"Yep." Sam was a little less than modest. "You forget... I used to do your job."

For the stoic man, he might as well have been making a crude joke. Sam never joked, he barely smiled anymore and truth be told, he had gotten old before his time. So the fact that he had somehow remembered that he was 25 years old for a split second and not 52 was something of an event.

"Nope, something's still keeping her Fenrir. Her tie to us is stronger now, but she's still not pack. I think it has to do with her brother.."

"Makes sense, they're twins." Sam replied.

Jared was looking very uncomfortable, like something was stuck in his throat and he couldn't get it out, no matter how hard he tried.

"What's up with you?" Paul asked.

Jared frowned. "That woman is an imprint, and she's... how can she do the things she's done? I mean she's totally made her wolf's childrens' lives a living hell. If what Ingrid says is true... she's pretty much responsible for their mother's death! And this... I mean... imprint's are supposed to be... well... not this."

The man looked utter at a loss to explain behavior that he didn't think was possible.

It was Sam who answered him, in a very odd way. "Were you under the impression that because a woman is imprinted on that it makes her a saint? They're human beings Jared and that makes them capable of anything any human being is capable of. The good... and the bad."

When he finished, he looked directly at Leah. Paul noticed and narrowed his eyes a bit, before wiping all expression off his face and acting like whatever connection that those two still shared didn't bother him at all.

Just then Seth poked his head in. "I'm taking Ingrid back home. She said to tell you that she'll meet you tomorrow, if you want to Jake, to discuss the cult."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "She can take all the time she needs Seth. She just got kicked out of her pack, the cult can wait."

Ingrid's voice floated in from where she was standing by the front door. "I need the distraction, I'll see you tomorrow."

Jake nodded at Seth. The younger wolf turned and then the two of them were gone. The rest of the pack looked at each other. The more they learned of the Fenrir, the more alien they seemed to be. Both cultures did things so differently that it was hard to imagine them having any common ground.

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Seth drove Ingrid home in complete silence. She just looked out the window like a robot. When they got to her house, she let them in and then sat on the couch and stared at the floor, her hands in her hair. Seth sat down beside her, worry etched on his face.

"I am so, so sorry." he said.

"For what?" she asked.

"You lost everything... because of me." Seth replied.

Ingrid took a deep breath and then not really looking at anything she flopped back against the sofa cushions. "You know... it would be really easy to blame you Seth. I mean... imprinting now is 0 for 2 in my life, but it's not your fault. I should have told him, I just wanted to keep my year away so badly. I knew telling him and what rank you were would be a giant shitstorm. Do you know why I did whatever it took to get my year away?"

"I'm guessing it had something to do with that shit-tastic family of yours. Well... your brother seems pretty cool." he said.

She smiled at that. "He is. It was because I really thought that I would kill Dagmar if I didn't get a break from her. Being around her made the thing that lives inside me crawl in my brain. I wanted her dead and I was going to do it if I didn't get away. I _had_ to get away. So I did. I knew that if I told him that there was the real possibility that he would make me go back... and if that happened, I was going to kill his imprint. The day I do that... I might as well swallow a bullet, because it's suicide by wolf. My father WILL kill me. So I took my chances and I stayed. It was a gamble Seth, one that didn't pay off."

She looked at a picture on the mantle piece, it was the last family photo taken of Gunnar, Marit and the twins.

"It's not your fault I got kicked out of my pack. It's Dagmar's fault. She's always wanted me and Magnus gone. She's always hated that there was a life before her, a family before her. She was always pleased that my mother died. She never came out and said it, but it was obvious. If she had ever had children, Magnus and I would have been shipped off somewhere permanently. But then she got injured and no children for her. So she had to keep us around or the line would be broken. Magnus is the next Jarl, she _can't_ get rid of him. But I'm just a wolfblooded, if I was a she wolf, I would be being groomed to be my brother's beta till his son was born and trained. But as I am now... I'm expendable and she knows it. She saw the opportunity to get rid of me and she took it, that's on her."

Seth frowned. "She sounds crazy Ingrid. I mean I get jealousy and all that, but she sounds really nuts."

"Maybe." Ingrid mused. "It would be nice to think so, that it's not her fault that she's a home wrecking whore and completely devoid of the things that make someone a good person. But as far as I know... she's not crazy. Dagmar is hoping that in three years time I'll either be dead from the stress of being packless or so intertwined with you that I won't ever want to go home. I don't think she understands how deeply tied wolf twins are. The only way I can stop being Fenrir is if Magnus somehow dies before me."

"How in the hell can she not know that?" Seth asked.

"She's not wolfblooded. She's a normal human and my father has kept her so coddled and insulated from the realities of Fenrir life that there's a lot of stuff that she doesn't know. I did her job for years Seth, the only reason that I don't have the bolverk's tattoo on my throat and the torque around my neck is because she claimed them for herself... not that she deserved them."

Seth sat closer to her and took her hand. Ingrid didn't pull away and Seth didn't bother trying to fool himself into reading anymore into that gesture than was there.

"You've mentioned that word before, the bolverk. What does it mean?"

"It's the alpha's left hand." she said. "If the beta is the alpha's right hand than the bolverk is the left. Usually, she's the mate of the alpha, but sometimes in the case of that mate dying, it's the oldest female child or most capable female relative. It's always female. When a bolverk speaks it's implicitly understood that the weight of the alpha and the beta are behind her words. In a healthy pack, the alpha the beta and the bolverk are sort of like this triumvirate. In an unhealthy pack... it's a big pile of steaming shit."

Seth huffed. "Let me guess... it's a big pile of steaming shit in your pack."

Ingrid just nodded. "The bolverk is always female because alpha's... except for one time in our entire history and as far as we know in the entire world, alpha's are always male and beta's are usually, though not always, male. The bolverk is a voice of female power and high rank to balance all that testosterone out, plus she gives the non-wolves a voice and an advocate. Though all Dagmar does is fuck up and blame everyone else but herself when someone needs to be held accountable."

Ingrid got up and began pacing around, her hands picking at her clothes. It was obvious that she was feeling the exclusion from her pack. Seth walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. He hoped that for once the stubborn woman would lean on him. She was obviously in need of some support. Oddly enough, for a full two minutes... she did. Then she looked up at him and smiled sadly.

"Seth, I'm not going to spend the next three years avoiding you as much as humanly possible save for when I'm hanging out with your sister. When I was only going to be here for a year, that was one thing... but that's too damn difficult to keep up for three years. So... I'd like to try and be friends."

He brushed her hair back. "We could be whole lot more than friends you know."

"No." she replied. "We can't. I know better than anyone, what imprinting does to someone's free will. My father would never have left us, he loved and adored my mother. But an imprint gets what an imprint wants. When it comes to that bond, you have no free will of your own. You're a good guy Seth, funny, smart... damn good looking. And if you could choose me of your own free will, it would be different and I would be all over you. From what I understand, and I've done some asking, I'm not even your regular type. I won't be part of something that takes that much away from you. I'm not moveable on this point Seth, I refuse to do to you what Dagmar did to my father."

Seth growled. "But it's not the same Ingrid, I don't have a wife and children. If I did, then I would be thanking my lucky stars that you're my imprint instead of someone else who might not care."

Ingrid gave that smile again. "The worst of Dagmar's sins wasn't that she wrecked a happy home or that she selfishly took for herself what should have been my mother's. It was that she took away my father's free will to make his own decisions, and she didn't care. An imprint has such power over her wolf. It takes a very ethical woman to stand firm in the face of that temptation, I've known a few. I don't want to find out the hard way that I'm not one of them."

Seth actually laughed. "It figures... I got the ethically overwrought imprint."

Ingrid and Seth spent much of the day and into the night talking. Ingrid was a bit frenetic in her conversation, jumping from topic to topic. Pacing about like a caged animal, she was all over the place. It took hours, but finally, late in the evening, she finally fell asleep. Or more appropriately, passed out from sheer emotional exhaustion. As she lay sleeping in her bedroom, Seth was laying on the sofa. There was something that was bothering him, something that wouldn't let him go. Ingrid said that she only wanted to be friends, that that was as deep as she would ever allow the imprint to go. After spending as much time with her as he had, he believed her. There was just one problem... if that was what she truly wanted, than he should be content, and he wasn't. The bond shouldn't still be tugging at him, screaming at him that there was something else, something different that she needed. What the hell else could it be?

XXXXXX XXXXXX

The next day Ingrid was up early, out the door and shopping at Goodwill and the drugstore before Seth even woke up. When he _finally_ woke up and looked at his imprint he blinked a lot to make sure he was still seeing things correctly. She looked completely different. She was dressed in total street clothes, like she was used to sleeping in a doorway and her hair was much longer than it had been... and was straight... and brown. It also looked like it had been hacked at with a razor blade in an attempt to cut it that had failed spectacularly.

"What the hell?" he mumbled.

"We need to go to Jake's and then I need to get to into the cult. There's nothing I can do about my pack situation, but this is something I can do instead. So... hurry up and get dressed, there's coffee on in the kitchen."

Seth blearily got ready and poured himself a travel mug of coffee. As they drove to Jake's house he was figiting in the seat.

"Are you sure that you know what you're doing?" His voice was tight with worry.

Ingrid turned the wheel to go down the road to La Push and smiled proudly. "I'm _damn_ good at this. I might not be able to kill a vampire by myself, but _this, this_ is my thing. If there are vampires up there I'll find them for you and everything else you need to know to rip the sons of bitches apart."

Her voice sounded exactly like the pack's did when they were about to go on patrol or a fight was coming. It was all pride and a certain amount of excitement in doing what you know you were born to do.

Seth still frowned. "But what if they figure it out? What if you need to fight? What if..."

Ingrid pulled to the side of the road. "Seth, my pack taught me to fight. I know how to fight vampires, I might not be able to kill one by myself... but three of my kind fighting in a group can, and do."

Seth was just a bit wide eyed at that. "You... you've killed vampires haven't you?"

"Yep, done it more than once. When the dark part of the year begins... I'm put out there like every other capable member of the Fenrir. If you were hoping for a damsel in distress... I'm sorry, fate screwed you in more ways than one."

Seth was having a moment. It was a pretty surreal moment too. One the one hand, his human side was about to have a stroke and on the other... his wolf was rumbling in happiness that it had found such a capable match. A thousand and five questions were flying around his brain at light speed. All of them leading to yet even more questions and at some point... he stopped breathing.

"SETH!"

He snapped out of it.

"How?" he asked. "How can you kill them, you guys don't have claws, no pointy teeth... NOTHING to tear them apart with. How the hell do you fight them? How do you kill them?"

Ingrid reached into her inner jacket pocket and pulled out a pale white knife. "Be careful with this, it _will_ cut you."

Seth took it gingerly. "What is it?"

"Vampire bone-knife. All the weapons made for the wolfblooded are made out of vampire bones, so are the medical instruments meant to be used on you full blood types."

Seth looked poleaxed. "How do you get vampire bones? Jesus... your world is completely different than mine... and we're almost the same species."

Ingrid took back her small knife. "We keep a portion of the arms and legs of the vampires we kill, deflesh them and carve them into weapons and medical instruments. Whatever we don't use, we burn. Vampire bones are impossibly sharp when given an edge and impossibly hard and durable. They'll pierce a vampire's skin, kill them if used correctly. These weapons take away the advantage that their marble skin gives them. We're pretty sure that shapeshifter bones would do the same thing, but no one wants to defile any of our dead in this way to find out. Vampires though... vampires we don't care about."

Seth looked at her unblinking. "You do realize that what you just said was creepy as hell right? You're sitting here talking about chopping up the arms and legs of your enemies and using their bones for weapons. It's... creepy."

She merely shrugged and got back on the road. "The world is a tough place Seth, full of things that will kill you if you give them half a chance. So you don't give them that chance, you take any advantage you can and you run with it. Otherwise you end up dead."

He couldn't fault her her logic, it was true. Living the life that he had the past seven years had taught him that. He just wished that his own imprint didn't have to be the one saying it. When they pulled up in front of Jake red house, some of the pack were waiting for them. Seth looked at Ingrid as she stepped out of the car and walked toward his pack. For better or worse, he was going to find out some of what she was capable of very soon.

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Magnus stood outside looking over the wall into the wind and the snow. Autumn here did not bring pretty colors... it brought more snow. He stared out into the blinding white and ground his teeth hard enough to make them ache. The news about Ingrid and her punishment had been announced that morning, the pack had reacted with shock. Many of them had looked over to him to see how they should react. Enni had looked utterly guilt stricken. Dagonet, Hilde and Karolina looked angry. Yvanne had taken his hand in hers and murmured that three years time would pass. After the announcement he had come up here and he'd been here for over an hour.

Suddenly Dagonet and Hilde stood at either side of him. Hilde was the first to speak. "Yvanne told us what happened. She told a few people, people who aren't happy with this decision Magnus.

Dagonet's voice rumbled. "You have allies beta... if you need to make a decision, know that you have people that will stand with you. And not just in this pack."

Magnus nodded and continued to look out into the snow.

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Ingrid smiled as the man at the gate let her into the Fellowship of Self Actualization and Happiness. The pack had been impressed with her physical transformation and she had gone over with Jake every single last detail of what she hoped to accomplish. A wolf would always be nearby, but unseen and always down wind so that if there were vampires here, no one would smell them.

Her jerky eye movements and the way she picked at herself screamed junkie, which was the point. She no longer looked or sounded anything like the curly red haired Norwegian woman living in Forks. And if she did her job right, no one would ever know they were the same person.

"What can we do for you?" the man asked her.

When Ingrid spoke, her voice was perfect Washington American. "I just wanna get better. I was told I could get better here."

The man gestured for her to come through the gate. "You've come to the right place then. We've helped a lot of people like you."

Ingrid walked past him and the man shut the gate behind her and locked it. From the treeline Seth and Jake watched in wolf form. Both of them hoping fervently that this was just a cult of crazy humans and both of them having the suspicion that weren't that lucky.


	9. Chapter 9

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

AN: Thank you to those who have read, reviewed and/or added this story to their favorites. I apologize for the extreme delay. A few things were very much hindering my ability to continue with this story. The first was finals. In addition to being the mother of two I am a full time college student, and obviously finals took priority. Also, my youngest is teething. Oh life, you saucy, ironic playmate who bedevils me with lack of sleep! Also, I had some SERIOUS writer's block. However, finals are over, writer's block has ceased and maybe someday my youngest will stop teething. I want to say that I'll be getting into a good schedule, my goal was a chapter every 2 weeks. However, with my son teething hard and fast, I average about 2 to 3 hours of sleep a night. So until the horrors of teething are over, updates will arrive as I have the wherewithal to write them. This won't last forever and I just ask you to bear with me.

Chapter Eight:

Seth watched Ingrid as she walked near the fence line of the cult's land. She looked awful, and as she had warned them, that was the point. She was impersonating a junkie detoxing from her fix and as such she was going to look like death warmed over and served for afternoon tea. Ingrid was purposely not sleeping, because no detoxing junkie slept much, so there were dark circles around her eyes and she constantly twitched and picked at her clothes and skin. Her eyes were nervous and darted about and she jumped at every noise like it was loud as a gunshot, even if it was soft as a pin drop. She purposely was making herself throw-up at regular intervals and thus was always covered in a fine sheen of sweat. If Seth didn't know what was going on, he would have bought her act hook, line and sinker. Luckily, the cult seemed to be eating it up. She was allowed to walk where she would, they seemed to think it was good for her to work off her nervous energy.

As he watched, she walked over to the chain link fence and picked a flower from the bush of hyacinths that grew there. She did it every third day, and when she did, she would drop a usb port on the ground on the other side of the fence. It would contain all the information her little toys had gathered for her and the pack, along with any personal notes she had included. Ingrid had been there for one week, one more week and she would be done. At first Seth had been beside himself with worry, had actually chewed and licked his tail nearly raw with his concern for his imprint. But then something changed. He looked over the information she dropped for them one day and that fear turned to pride. His imprint may not have had any idea what to do with the vast majority of her kitchen... but who the hell cared? The cult had not found a single piece of tech that she had smuggled in with her and none of them concerned themselves with her beyond what had been expected. He had to admit, Ingrid's druggie act had hid her in plain sight. In a way, she might as well have been invisible.

Embry was with him and as dusk began to lengthen into night, the grey wolf crept soundlessly to the drop point and gently snagged the usb port in his teeth and crept back. Then he phased to human form, pulled on his clothes and looked at Seth.

"Come on. Quil and Leah will be here to take over for us. We gotta go or we risk having them realize that we're here."

Seth nodded his enormous head and then he too became human in the dim moonlight. Taking one last look at Ingrid's back as she walked to her room to put her flower in water, he made his soundless way to the Redclay's house. The twin's mother, Janice was making everyone supper and nicely enough, Brady was the most computer literate of the bunch of them. He and Collin had the only laptop in the pack. In the past week it had been getting quite a lot of use. It was only a year old, so unlike Sam, Leah and Embry's computers, it could handle the digital images Ingrid sent.

When they arrived Janice and Jake seemed to be locked in conversation. She turned as Embry and Seth walked in and smiled.

"Hello Seth, Embry. How are your mother's doing?"

Both of them made the usual pleasantries and walked into the living room where the rest of the pack was, they knew better than to launch immediately into a discussion about the cult right now. Jake always gave Janice his undivided attention, and more than any other pack family member, he reached out to her. Seth was of the opinion that it was because he thought that if Sarah Black was still alive, she would have reacted to the pack the way that Janice had. It was like, in a way, Jake was able to have some sort of maternal presence in his life by becoming close to the twin's mother.

As they left the kitchen they heard her whack Jake on the top of his head with a wooden spoon. "Nevermind you muscle bound ninny! Someday you'll have kids and then you'll understand. Now finish chopping those peppers or this stew will be too bland to serve."

They didn't even need to turn around to know that he had smiled at her and did exactly as she asked. It was how he always was with the Redclays.

Supper was a pleasant affair, Janice's cooking tasted great, and was in portions big enough to curb the appetites of the pack. Mr. Redclay had told them a story of his teen years that had everyone smiling and more than a few laughs. It was a good night. One of the small pleasures that made all of what they did worthwhile. They had long ago learned that it was the small things in life that made up a life... and that one should appreciate them.

After they all helped clean up the mess and the imprints had left to their respective homes, the pack gathered around Collin and Brady's laptop. They opened the file and Sam took a good look at the images and the notes.

"She's mapped out the whole place, there's not a square inch of it that we can't plot out from what she's given us. That'll come in handy if we have to actually attack their land, we'll know what spots have strategic value and which ones don't." Sam had wanted to be an architect and in fact that was what he been accepted to Northwestern University as, an architecture student. He had always had a good sense of space and spatial relations.

Paul took the computer and scrolled through her notes. "Uh guys... this is pretty significant, supposedly there's some sort of religious service that happens twice a week. She's says that it's mandatory for everyone except newcomers, that you have to be judged ready to make a commitment to be asked to go. She hasn't been allowed to attend but she says that when the people come out... some of them looked pretty weak and they end up needing to, and I quote, 'take to their beds for the remainder of the day'."

Jake turned to Seth. "What's your assessment of her Seth?"

Seth sighed. "You've seen her Jake. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was exactly what she says she is. A junkie who's trying to clean herself up. As far as I can tell, she's hasn't broken character once and they all seem to buy it. I don't like that she's in there, but I have to admit... she's good at this."

Jake, Sam and Paul, who was currently third again, conferred quietly as Brady began downloading all the info to his hard drive and sorting it. After a few moments they came back and faced the pack. Jake looked at each of them, like he was trying to impress the importance of what he was saying to them.

"I want her to get into the service, so I'm going to okay her staying in there as long as she needs to to achieve that. However... if _any _of you think her cover has been blown, get her out of there. According to her brother, she's not human and she can take a lot... but she's not on par with one of us and if you think she's about to get exposed to a bunch of leeches, do what you have to to get her out. Do you all understand?"

Everyone nodded. Seth looked at his alpha like he was a little bit stupid to think he needed to be told to make sure that a leech didn't eat his imprint. However he decided not to say anything. He had noticed lately that he was getting better at judging situations, getting better at knowing when to react and when not to.

As Seth walked home that night, his head turned of it's own accord to the direction Ingrid was in. He wondered how she was. He wondered why he wasn't more upset about the whole thing. Jared was amazed that Jake wasn't having to sit on him to keep him away from her. Seth couldn't explain it, there was just something deep inside him that said 'She's got this, trust her, she's got this.' Thus far he could find no reason to ignore that voice.

He turned back to his home, looking at the crest plate painted above the doorway, wondered if whoever had painted it knew the irony of the stylized wolf that was part of the imagery. Then he went inside to sleep. Just because he trusted Ingrid did not mean that he wasn't worried at all about her and he knew it would take him hours to sleep.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

Ingrid accepted the tin cup of sludge these people called coffee. If she ever wanted to have hair on her chest this was certainly going to do it for her. There was a service tomorrow and the whole cult seemed buzzing with activity to get ready. These people seemed like this was the focus of their whole lives. Ingrid supposed it was the comfort that ritual tended to give to believers. That feeling of sacred space. The fact that this whole place was filled with desperate, sad and lonely people who would cling to _anything_ that gave them a reason to have faith in something larger than themselves just added to the sense of anticipation.

She was sitting across from a young woman whose belly was heavy, the 8th month of pregnancy weighing on the girl. The gravid female was collecting dishes from the long picnic table Ingrid sat at, as she passed her, Ingrid spoke up.

"You should sit down, you're closing in on your time and you have to be uncomfortable in this sun. I'll finish up those dishes."

The girl seemed startled a bit. "Are you sure? You've been quite sick, and our saviors tell us that a portion of honest labor keeps the human mind focused, engaged."

"I'm sure it does." Ingrid replied. "However... I think your mind has been engaged enough this morning. What's your name?"

"I'm Lydia." the girl replied shyly

"Nice to meet you Lydia, I'm Sydney Greene."

Lydia fiddled with her long skirt. "I know. I prepared your meals for you when you were in detox. I made them nice and bland... so as to not upset your stomach."

Ingrid smiled at her and helped her onto a bench, getting another tin cup so that she could have some water. Handing it to Lydia Ingrid bowed her head.

"Thank you then, I appreciate it. It's nice to know who was taking care of me."

The girl merely smiled and watched as Ingrid gathered up the breakfast dishes and gave them to the people on washing duty at the two large outdoor sinks. Then the wolfblooded made her way back, her instincts not liking leaving a woman who was deeply pregnant alone and vulnerable.

"So what brought you here?" she asked. Many newbies seemed to ask this question and she knew it would not draw attention to herself."

"My husband died." Lydia replied. "I was 4 months pregnant when it happened. I don't have any family and my husband's parents never really liked me."

Ingrid tilted her head. "Yes but... you're pregnant, you're carrying the only thing that's left of their son. What could be so bad that they would overlook something like that?"

"Matt came from a wealthy family, very wealthy. One of the founding families of Pasadena. I'm a nobody with no important family to speak of." Lydia said. "They had a match already picked out for him that they were heavily pushing at the time. But Matt fell in love with me and married me. It didn't go over well and when I got pregnant two years later, that went over even worse. They haven't had contact with me since the day Matt was buried."

Ingrid listened to the woman and thought how similar her story was to so many others. All these people were just folks at the end of their rope. People who had had something terrible happen to them. People who desperately needed something or someone to believe in. Regardless of whether or not there were vampires here, this place was a warehouse of human pain. Hollywood always got it so wrong, cults weren't places where murders done in the name of Satan were happening, but instead were places where depression and misery seemed to gather. The old saying: "Misery loves company" was very true.

As Lydia and Ingrid were talking, an old woman in a wheelchair was pushed by. She turned her head and looked at them and as Ingrid looked back, the woman's eyes seemed extremely familiar. She felt like she should know who this was. Turning to Lydia as the woman rolled past she asked her who she was.

"That's the founder of the Fellowship." Lydia replied. Her voice held a tinge of awe and worship. "She's very old, 87 I believe. She doesn't often go outside."

Ingrid schooled her face into an appropriate mask of awe and interest. "What's her name?"

"Dorothy O'Grady."

Ingrid felt the pit of her stomach drop. Dorothy O'Grady, aged 10, one of two survivors of the original massacre in 1933. Dorothy O'Grady, aged 87, founder of a cult on the spot of said massacre 77 years later. There was no way that was a coincidence, life just didn't work that way.

The rest of the day Ingrid followed Lydia around, helping her get everything ready for the services. Towards nightfall, Lydia was called away by a middle aged man with a beard, when she came back she was smiling happily.

"Sydney, I have great news! You've been invited to the service tonight. You'll get to meet our saviors!"

"Really?" Ingrid was a bit surprised.

Lydia looked so pleased, that if Ingrid was an actual cult hopeful, she'd be thrilled. "Ms. O'Grady saw how you helped me, saw that you aren't afraid of work. She says that she thinks you're ready!"

The pregnant woman pulled Ingrid along with her to her small cabin that she shared with another girl. "We need to get you the proper attire. We go to services in..."

"Red and white shrouds." Ingrid interrupted. "I know... I've seen you all in them before, heading to the church."

In her cabin Lydia introduced her to her roommate, Alison. Alison appeared to be no more than 18 years old. And barely that. She enthusiatcaillygave Ingrid an outfit of her's to wear to the church. Once Ingrid was in the shrouds she followed the two women into the nicest building on the property.

Where every other building was a rather poorly maintained, but yet astonishingly clean, cabin left over from the original camp, the church had been fully restored to it's former glory. Gleaming white paint, window boxes with white and red flowers, dogwood trees bracketing the front doors. There were windows of etched glass, Catholic and Pagan symbols sharing equal space in them. Ingrid was rather sure the windows were a later addition, not for a second believing that the original church would have had non-Catholic symbology festooned on it.

Upon entering, the inside was brightly whitewashed with red symbols along the top and bottom of the walls. The alter was simple with a red crucifix, two white chairs, and a white alter with a red cloth spread over it. The pews were white with red cushions and all the hanging lights were red glass on silver chains. The effect was nearly that of blood splashed all along a white canvas.

None of this gave Ingrid a feeling of hope that this wasn't the ingenious hunting ground for some twisted, yet brilliant vampire. The feeling tickling the back of her head wasn't helping either. Something was here, and if it wasn't vampires... it was something equally as bad.

She took her seat with Lydia and Alison near the front. She could see Dorothy O'Grady seated close to them, but in a place of honor that was all her own. And as a door to the side of the alter opened and two people walked up onto the dais and faced their congregation, the cold perfection of their faces, the inhuman beauty of their forms causing sounds of adoration and worship to leave the congregants mouths, O'Grady's face morphed into that of someone who had found their own person gods. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair so tightly that her knuckles turned white, her gasp almost a prayer on it's own.

Ingrid sat and mimicd the behavior of those around her. Watching Dorothy she realized something: That little girl had witnessed something so horrible that it fundamentally ruined her on a psychological level so deep there had never been any hope for her. Where the Viselli boy had grown unstable and killed himself in middle age, Dorothy had gone quietly insane, worshiping the greatest source of strength she had ever seen.

The old saying that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger was so very, very wrong. Somethings do in fact kill you, leaving behind a moving and breathing body that has no idea that is no longer alive, no longer functioning. Looking at Dorothy O'Grady, Ingrid realized she was looking at one such person right then and there.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

That night Paul was patrolling when Ingrid neatly stepped out from behind a tree. For the rest of his days Paul would swear up and down that he knew she was there the whole time. He was lying. The man had no idea how this woman had gotten to be so sneaky... but he was a bit annoyed by it. And he also realized something, Ingrid had a very faint personal scent, too subtle, too unnoticeable. He made a note to ask about it later.

"I don't have a lot of time, I sneaked away for a little bit. I need to give you guys some info that you need now... and in person. But I don't have a lot of time, if I'm gone too long, they'll notice."

Paul nodded his shaggy head, let out the howl that he knew would call the pack to him and phased human in front of her. Immediately covering himself as he did so.

"Oh please." Ingrid said. "I grew up with all this stuff, do you really think that casual nudity bothers me in the slightest? You don't have anything I haven't seen before."

Paul smirked at her. "Either way Red, you're Seth's imprint. We try not to go flashing our junk to the imprints."

Ingrid would have had a pithy retort but soon she was surrounded by a whole mess of naked men... and one woman. Seth walked over to her immediately. "You okay? You weren't expected back this soon."

She smiled and waved her hand. "I'm fine, I just have stuff you need to hear in person. I had to make sure you understand everything I'm telling you, I don't want anything left to interpretation."

Seth nodded and looked to Jake. The alpha was frowning. For Ingrid to have snuck out without giving them prior warning, it had to be important. But still, the alpha in him didn't like not being the first to know something. He gestured for Ingrid to talk.

"You have a massive problem up there. First of all, history's about to repeat itself. That whole cult is a herd of cattle for two vampires. The problem is that I'm positive they've bought their own hype. It looks like they were turned and then completely abandoned. A priest and a nun, both of whom seem to think that they're chosen by G-d to be immortal."

"How can you tell they believe this?" Jake asked.

"It's the way they talk, the way they move. Faith and belief ooze from every pore in their bodies. Which makes sense, because in life they were clergy. Faith was already a way of life to them. I think... I think they latched on to the symbolism of the Eucharist. The body and especially blood of Christ. They survived a vicious and bloody attack, they drink blood, they're immortal. The parallels are there if you look hard enough. With no one to lead them through the change, to teach them what they are... their minds latched onto what they knew. And that was religion."

Seth's face went hard. "How bad is it?"

"Bad. Every single last person up there is like a true believer. You have to understand, they've all been given what looks like proof of G-d. They're willing donors. They volunteer, in an ecstasy of religious fervor, to be drunk from. It has a sort of tent revival feel to it actually. And for the vampires part, if they're not true believers themselves... I'll eat my own hair. But that's not actually the worst of it."

"Oh?" Jake responded.

"They're still like newborns." Ingrid's voice sounded like she was dropping a bomb.

"How is that possible?" Jake demanded. "It's been 77 years. There's no way they can still be newborns."

Seth spoke up next. "It takes a year, sometimes a year and change for a vampire to burn through their human blood supply. After that, they're no longer newborns."

"I'm aware." she said almost sarcastically. "But remember those photos? The way I said the savagery screamed newborn attack?"

"I remember." said Sam.

"When a newborn creates another vampire it's almost like that vampire is a sort of a subspecies. Not truly a permanent newborn, but close enough in many ways. They're stronger, faster and _far_ more enduring than a regular vampire, even moreso than a regular newborn. However you outnumber them 5 to 1, so that cancels out a lot of the strength and speed. What it won't cancel out is the endurance. You will need to rip them into bite sized chunks before you light them on fire. Just ripping off arms, legs and the head won't work. They'll reattach in the flames and you'll have to fight them all over again."

Ingrid waited for that little caveat to sink in.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit." It was sort of rare for Embry to swear so flamboyantly.

"That's not all." Ingrid added.

"Of course it isn't. Why would I ever think that there was good news coming in all of this." Jake motioned for her to continue.

"You can't just run in there and attack."

"Why the hell not?" asked Quil.

"Those people will do anything for their 'saviors'. They will get inbetween you and them. Hell, they'll volunteer to be hostages to ensure their safety. There are families up there. Children, one pregnant woman. If you run in there all balls to the walls, a lot of innocent people are going to die."

Collin shrugged. "Yeah but... they worship vampires for fuck's sake! Maybe they're not so great themselves."

"That's not our decision to make Collin." Leah's voice was swift and cutting.

"They're not bad people, they're lost people. Most of them have some sort of godawful tragedy in their lives they just can't get through. The rest are pathetically and easily lead. They don't deserve to die, not like they will if you just attack the place full throttle."

"And you're sure of this?" asked Jake.

"You weren't up there. You didn't see what I saw." Her voice was heavy, like it was made of lead.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

When the two vampires took their seats behind the alter piece, Ingrid took in their appearance. A man and a woman, both dressed in the outfits of the Catholic clergy, but with slight changes. The nun's habit was red and white as opposed to black and white and her whimple was of a pre-Vatican two era style. Nun's no longer wore this style of habit, it was like she was stuck in a time that had long since passed. The priest as well was not dressed in the clothes of a contemporary priest. Instead of a black suit and white collar, he wore a red hassock and with a white sash and collar. Their eyes were red, displaying that they were indeed human drinkers. Their beauty was perfect, like it was carved from marble by a master sculptor.

Everyone was rapt with attention, they hung on every word these two people spoke. There were three readings, one from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament and one that appeared to be some sort of reworked legend from typical British mythology. All of the readings had something in common. They featured blood. The power of blood, the mythos of blood.

Ingrid knew the two vampires could not affect the minds of so many people with their mental powers and frighteningly, they didn't appear to need to. The belief that the congregants had seemed to be enough. They reached out their hands, prayed with a fervor almost akin to someone experiencing an intense high. Perhaps whatever they go out of this perceived close connection to the Divine _was_ the drug.

Whatever it was, she knew that she had to play her part. She looked astonished, mesmerized, unsure. All the hallmarks of someone confronted with something that challenges the very foundations on which they've built their life. They _had _to believe she was buying this, that she was on board for their brand of salvation.

Then the two stood up and all noise stopped. All movement stopped. Everything... stopped. They each walked before the alter and smiled at their herd. Ingrid was not even going to bother thinking of these people as anything else. They were a herd, meant only to satisfy their hunger. The man held up his arms and began to speak.

"Tonight my sister and I hunger. We require that which G-d Himself has ordained for us. Which among you will choose to help sustain us?"

A middle aged man, the same one who had informed Lydia that Ingrid, or more appropriately Sydney, had been chosen to attend services stood up and made his way to the alter. He knelt before the man and held out his wrist. The priest took the proffered wrist and held it to his lips, spoke a prayer lowly and drank. The man eventually began to sway, like he was starting to get dizzy with blood loss. The priest let him go and two people from the front pew took the woozy man and brought him to a room to the left of the alter.

After he was done feeding, the priest gestured for the nun to join him. "Who now will feed my sister? Who now will offer themselves up for salvation?"

Alison, from her spot next to Lydia and Ingrid nearly ran to the front of the dais, lowering herself to the ground, she let her body grow loose as she offered herself up to the female vampire. The nun reached down and gathered Alison to her, supporting her weight as though she were merely a a baby. Then quick like a snake, she struck at the vein on the side of her neck. Alison closed her eyes and began to have an experience that seemed almost like a religious rapture. Eventually the priest squeezed the nun's shoulder and she broke away from Alison's neck.

Lydia's roommate was unconscious. Again two congregants from the front pew took her to the same room off the side of the alter. The service continued with more prayers and speeches. Ingrid watched it all, alert to everything that was happening, cataloging it to report to Seth's pack. At the end of the church service, the man had rejoined the rest of the cult members. Yet Alison remained out of sight.

After a final hymn the people began to file out. Ingrid watched as Dorothy O'Grady sat with a look of ecstatic worship on her face. As Ingrid looked at her, the old woman turned her head and met her eyes.

"They are so powerful." O'Grady whispered. "They can take your destiny and rewrite it, sweep away _everything _that you thought was written in stone about your life. My world made no sense till I accepted what they meant, till I found them again, till I could worship them."

Ingrid widened her eyes and played her part, her voice a hushed whisper of awe. "Can they give me meaning too?"

O'Grady smiled at her. "They can give anyone meaning, someday... they'll give _all_ of us meaning."

Ingrid saw the two vampires coming to where their most profound worshiper sat in her chair and waited. When they got there they both kissed Dorothy on her cheek. Then they turned to Ingrid.

"I'm Father Anthony Rossi and this is Sister Kathrine Joseph. I see you have been judged to be ready to join the rest of our brothers and sisters in salvation." His voice was rich and melodic and if Ingrid hadn't been what she was, she would have found herself drawn to it like a bee to honey.

Fr. Rossi held out his hand and Ingrid shook it, ignoring her instincts to attack the walking dead thing in front of her. Sr. Joseph did not offer to shake hands and as Ingrid quickly assessed her appearance, she realized that the nun had a symptom emblematic of her kind, never ending thirst. This vampire could never be left to her own devices... she'd drink until she exposed the whole of the vampire race to the world, and so long as her appetite was filled, she wouldn't care. There was a reason that the Volturri forbade newborns to sire their own crazed offspring. More than 70% of them turned out like Sr. Joseph. Left to a life of a starving dog on a leash, eventually going mad to the pull of constant hunger and thirst.

Ingrid watched the interaction between Fr. Rossi and Sr. Joseph as he asked her about her life, how she had fallen prey to a "loose lifestyle and drugs". He was clearly the person in charge, while Sr. Joseph was an object of worship to the cult, Fr. Rossi was just as obviously an object of worship to her. Ingrid was unable to tell if Rossi had turned the nun or if she had been turned at the same time he was, during the massacre, but it didn't really matter. He controlled her and Ingrid was positive that if push came to shove, the female would go absolutely berserk to defend him. Whether he would do the same for her was less clear.

The wolfblooded excused herself when it was obvious that the two vampires wanted to speak to O'Grady privately. Leaving the church she found Lydia who was excited that her newfound friend seemed to be enthusiastically eager to partake of everything the cult had to offer.

"I have great news Sydney! Adolfus, he's in charge of assigning rooms, has moved your stuff into my cabin. Alison has been moved to another cabin... you'll be my roommate!"

Ingrid smiled and pretended that the news left her happy and excited. But instead it left her suspicious, where was Alison?

Three hours later she still had not appeared. When she asked about her, Ingrid was told that sometimes salvation took a very personal toll and required an extensive period of recuperation. Ingrid didn't by that for a second and as dusk fell, she went for one of her many walks. When she neared the church she went around to the back. What she found there told a far different story than the one the cult members wanted to believe.

There were drag marks from the outer door to the room that Alison had been placed in after the service. As a wolfblooded Ingrid's senses were sharper than a normal human's, though not anywhere near as sharp as a wolf's. She didn't need wolf senses to smell the blood and death left behind in those drag marks though, they were far to fresh for the smell to have faded. Alison had been drained dry and if not dry, then past the point where she could live through it.

She walked back to her new cabin and spent the rest of the evening talking to Lydia. After the pregnant woman went to sleep, Ingrid waited, then as things grew quiet she slipped out of the cabin and to the fenceline. This place was far too amateurishly defended for sneaking out to even be a challenge for her. She simply found the place where the cameras had little hope of catching her and where the tree overhang interfered with the alarm system connected to the chain link fence. Then she threw her jacket over the top and quickly climbed over, running off in the direction of La Push and whatever patrolling wolf she could find.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

"Jesus." Sam breathed. "And you're sure she's dead?"

"I'd stake my reputation on it and even if she isn't... it doesn't really matter. It's exactly what you were afraid it would be up there." Ingrid said.

Seth came closer to him and put his hand on her shoulder "You did good, thank you for this."

As her imprint, he set the tone of how his packmates interacted with Ingrid. When he was cautious and unsure of himself, so where they... even the ones who were clearly dominant to him. His ease with her in this moment spread throughout the pack and their body language changed, it became more relaxed, less aggressive. Ingrid might not have been pack... but she was an ally, a valuable one, and it was starting to show in their actions toward her.

"Thanks." her reaction was simple.

Jake took a breath. "Alright, we've gotta get in there, take these two out, and someone has to call Charlie and tell him to look for another body. Leah, make the call."

Leah nodded and disappeared from her position next to Paul to make the call.

"Okay, Ingrid, where's the best place to attack from on the cult? I want to do this with the least possible risk of loss of human life." he demanded.

"If you want to make sure that those people don't die, I have to go back. I can turn off the alarms and let you in. Keep the element of surprise in your favor. If you can get in and get to them before they can get to their herd... than these people have the greatest chance of surviving the encounter." Ingrid offered.

Jake looked a bit less than convinced. "We'd be sending you back into a situation that we _know _to be dangerous. Besides, if you go back, they might already know you've left, you could be walking back into an extremely hostile situation and we won't be close enough to get to you."

"I've been doing this for a long time Alpha Black, I'm not suicidal and know how to cut my losses when a situation has gone south. My cover hasn't been blown, and I'm positive that they have no idea I'm gone. I wouldn't volunteer to go back if that wasn't the case." she said.

Seth listened to the interaction and watched his imprint, trying to judge the situation for himself. He didn't want to rely on some other wolf's assesment of it, Ingrid was his imprint, he wanted to figure this out for himself. And as he paid attention he realized that that inner voice of his was still saying the same thing 'Trust her, she's got this.'

He got Jake's attention. "We should trust her to do her job. If she says she can do it... I believe her. Her brother said she was one of the best at this, that she's well trained. At some point... we have to take the chance."

"Are you out of your fucking mind Seth?" Jared sounded pissed off. "She's your _imprint._ What the hell is wrong with you? How can you risk her life like this? Like it means fucking nothing to you? I would never be so careless with Kim! Ever."

Seth openly growled at Jared, which was new for him. He rarely butted heads with the wolves above him. He was quietly dominant over the wolves he outranked and laughingly submissive to the wolves who outranked him.

"Don't you EVER tell me how to handle my imprint. Ingrid isn't Kim Jared and if you can't see that, that's not my fucking issue. I trust her, she's my imprint and so I trust her. If she says she can do something, I trust her not to be stupid about it and do what she needs to do. Keep your nose out of my imprint Jared and pay attention to your own business." Seth's voice was clear and strong.

Everyone was a bit impressed with him, even Ingrid. Happy go lucky Seth so rarely ever got angry, so rarely got upset. Being accussed of being a negligent and ungrateful imprinted wolf was clearly a good way to get right under his fur with a quickness.

"Jared, Seth back off... now." Jake voice was heavy with the weight of authority that would settle over him in situations like this.

"Ingrid, go back to the cult. We attack at 3am, we're going to be depending on you to let us in. After you do, stay out of the way and out of the fighting. Try to get as many people out of the area as you can, but if it goes bad... get the hell out of there." he said.

"But Jake!" Jared protested.

"That's ENOUGH! I made my descision Jared and it's no longer up for discussion. Now get your shit ready for 3am." Jake left no room to manuver as he cut Jared's disagreement off.

Jake dispersed the pack to their preperations, what few there were to make and walked over to Seth and Ingrid. "You said there are kids up there, a pregnant woman?"

Ingrid nodded yes.

"They're your first priority to get out. I'm not sure how we'll react if a kid dies in front of us." he ordered.

"You have my word." Ingrid said.

Then Jake turned and left the two of them alone. Seth rurned to Ingird and took her in. He liked this, he liked being able to just be around her and the focus be on them accomplishing something together, not on the constant back and forth struggle between them.

"Don't make me regret backing you up." he said.

"I won't. You can depend on me." she replied.

As Seth watched her slink back off in the direction of the cult he realized that she was right. He could depend on her. It might not be the deep love of Kim and Jared or the devotion of Sam and Emily... but he liked that fact that if he needed her, Ingrid would show up and get whatever it was done. He realized that what with all the drama in the pack's lives... he had very few people that would do that for him.

XXX XXX XXX XXX

Ingrid climbed back over the fence, went to the circuit breaker box and opened it and tore the wires out. She watched the light go out for the alarm system, then she made her way over to the security hut where someone was always watching the cameras. She crept in and behind the man, and before he could even react, she took the back of his head and slammed him, face first onto the deck, knocking him unconscious. Then she turned off the cameras and any other security systems controlled from the hut.

After that was done, she went to the fence and quickly took out the man watching the gate. Checking her watch, she saw that it was 3am. She quietly opened the gate wide and waited for the rustle in the trees that would let her know the pack was about to emerge.


	10. Chapter 10

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

**AN: **Well, here it is. Writing time has come far easier to me lately, editing time... not so much. I never post anything unedited, and yet STILL the typos get through somehow. Thank you so much to everyone who reviews my work. It means a lot to me to see what you think, like a sort of nice and happy way to start my day after posting. Even if it's critical, I enjoy seeing it. Also, head on over to my author page, the lovely Essathetwerp made Shrapnel a lovely banner. Go to her author page, she posted one of the funniest poems about the bad sides of imprinting that I've ever read. HILARIOUS!

**Chapter Nine:**

Charlie Swan sat and looked over the desk that had belonged to Dorothy O'Grady. This room contained the only remaining evidence that she had lived, that she had gathered people to her. The pack was burning this place down. Scorching the earth as it were... this room in back of this insane church was all that was left. Charlie was saving it all. No matter how disturbed O'Grady had become, the woman had managed to track down these vampires cold, with no information other than what she had seen as a child hiding in a tree. He knew the pack protected La Push and that the Cullens protected Forks... but still... if they ever weren't there, if they ever turned on him... he wanted the tools with which to protect his community, Sue's community. So he took _all _of it. He took things that would have brought the Volturri back down upon his town if they knew. Charlie felt it was worth the risk... one never knew when there was a spider in one's midst.

Besides, he would _never_ be able to forget what he had seen tonight.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX **

As Ingrid stood waiting, the first wolf stepped out from the trees and into the moonlight. It was Jake, his massive head nearly staring her down. She let the weight of his dominance settle over her and her eyes slid to the side, acknowledging his rank. Then she walked over to him and brushed her leg against his side. All wolfblooded knew how to communicate with the packs... it was ingrained in them, they were not part of the packmind... but it was like they could read wolf body language like a child's book. Hilde used to like to joke that it was as though they were psychic in their own right. They weren't.

Her head jutted backwards. "The church is right up the center, the barracks are on either side... like a gauntlet. Father Rossi and Sister Joseph live in the church basement I believe and the back room to the church is where O'Grady lives."

Jake's ear twitched and his paw shifted, the muscles in his muzzle wrinkling and then smoothing out. Ingrid tilted her head.

"No, there shouldn't be any real threats in those barracks. The true believers are closer to the church, those with families, children, they're closer to the chow hall and the fence line."

Jake nodded that massive head and then turned and looked back at the trees. The rest of the pack stepped out. Ingrid immediately could pick out Seth, Leah was easy as well seeing as how she was smaller than the rest. It was the last person to step out that shocked her. Amongst all the wolves, a human man stood. Chief of Police, Charlie Swan.

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but what the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I'm here to help you get these people out of here while they" he gestured to the wolves. "kill the... vampires. This is in my area of jurisdiction... and I'm not sitting it out."

Ingrid nodded and looked at Charlie's pistol. "That's going to do fuck all against any vampire if you have to shoot."

She had grabbed her pistol from it's hiding spot while waiting for the pack to appear, untucking it from her waistband and racking a bullet into the chamber, she handed it to him.

"It's MUE-SOC M-45 Browning. Single action, semiautomatic with a customized chamber and bolt feeder. The bullets are made from vampire bone, stronger then steel. They'll punch through a vampire, but won't kill them. There's really no way to make bullets do enough damage to kill a vampire. However, they'll hurt and distract them long enough for you to get the hell away."

Charlie took the gun. "What are you going to use then?"

She held up her knife. "It's made of vampire bone too. I'm going to hazard a guess that I'm better at hand to hand then you are, so you get the gun. Though... neither of us should get into any fighting unless something goes wrong. Since there's two of us, you should get the families out, they're more likely to trust you because of your uniform. Make up some disaster for the reason that you're there. I'll try and evacuate the hardliners. The true believers know me... I have a better shot than you of getting them out."

He nodded and looked at the red wolf that was Jake. Ingrid looked at her wolf. She was starting to think of him that way, as her wolf. This would be their first time backing each other up, the first test to see if they could build some sort of working partnership. For better or worse, by the end of the night, Ingrid was going to know exactly how much she could trust and rely on Seth. She met his eyes and then slowly blinked once, he dipped his head down the slightest bit and flicked his ears. Then Jake stepped forward and walked through the gate and the time for thinking and planning was over.

The wolves hugged the fence line, choosing to circle around the barracks as opposed to walking straight down the gauntlet. Everything about this assault was geared towards as little collateral damage as possible. If all went according to plan, the only casualties tonight would be the two vampires. If all went according to plan.

Ingrid watched Charlie make his way to the first of the three barracks he was to evacuate, then Ingrid walked into the first of her two barracks. She was hoping she could get them all out, but she wasn't stupid. This was the tier of believers that had the least chance of survival. The ones that, should they be returned to their families, would face years of intense therapy to undo the brainwashing they had undergone. For some of them, it wouldn't help. She knew that some of these people may become Dorothy O'Gradys themselves. Too broken and too brainwashed to function normally in society. The best thing that could happen to them would be to have their families declare them incompetent and institutionalize them.

There was no way she was going to get every last one of them to leave. She was just hoping for most of them.

She flicked on the lights, and started yelling. "WAKE UP, SHE'S MISSING!"

One of the men stared at her and blinked rapidly in the bright lights, shocked into wakefulness. "Sydney? What do you mean she's missing?"

Ingrid pointed out the door. "Chief Swan's outside, something happened down the road, he's evacuating the compound! But no one can find Dorothy, she's missing and Charlie said the gate was open, we have to find her!"

It was a flimsy lie, that, had she tried it during the day with a group of fully awake people, would have crashed and burned faster than a helicopter with a blown tail rotor. But it was nighttime, they were still mostly asleep and they could hear the panicked sounds of children and others running out of the area. Whatever Charlie had told his group... it was effective. Those people were running full tilt boogie past the fence line.

One of the men nodded. "Alright! Kenneth, you and Sydney get the others up, we have to find Dorothy. The rest of us are going to go try and find her in the woods. And Syd... make sure some of the guys from the other building go with the families... we need to stick together and make sure no one separates."

Ingrid nodded affirmatively and ran out with Kenneth. It wasn't hard to get them up and out. By now, horrendous noise was coming from the church. The pack had found Father Rossi and Sister Joseph, she'd be surprised if the structural integrity of the church survived that fight.

When some of the men tried to go to the church, to go to Rossi and Joseph's aid, Ingrid grabbed them, using her superior strength to push them back. Thankfully they were too worked up to notice.

"NO! You have your orders! We HAVE to find O'GRADY!" she yelled.

For the most part it worked. Three people slipped by however and Ingrid gave them up as dead. She had promised Jake to stay the hell out of the fight... even if that meant that there were a few unfortunates that couldn't be saved. As they entered, the screaming began and then was abruptly cut off. Either the vampires had devoured them, or they ended up being collateral damage in the fight going on in there.

Kenneth stared horrified and looked at Ingrid. She shoved him back. "GO!"

The front vestibule of the church nearly exploded when Leah and who she thought might be Paul came flying through it. Shaking themselves out, both wolves bounded to their paws and leaped back in. Kenneth took two steps backwards, mouth agape and then he turned and ran.

As Ingrid started to head back to the others , to check in with Charlie she heard something she _really_ didn't want to hear.

"Sydney! Where's Sydney? I can't LEAVE HER HERE!"

It was Lydia, breaking away from the group, running as fast as her heavily pregnant body would allow, back into the chaos. Ingrid watched as she slipped out of Charlie's grasp and headed in her direction.

"Shit..." she murmured.

Then things went from bad to worse. Two vampires, she had told the pack there was only two vampires here. Albeit they were two insanely enduring specimens of a vampiric subspecies... she had told them two. So when a third popped out of the trees, Ingrid nearly swallowed her tongue. It was heading towards Lydia, it was heading towards all those soft humans behind Lydia, it was heading towards Charlie Swan who wasn't trained for this shit. And Ingrid was alone... the pack was in the church. She had no time, no time to run for the pack, to get their attention. It was headed towards Lydia.

Charlie Swan saw it too, Ingrid watched as he ran towards the woman. He wasn't going to make it, he wasn't fast enough. He brought up the pistol she had given him and squeezed out three rapid fire shots. Two of them hit center mass, and for most things that would have dropped the man to the ground. But he was a newborn created vampire. Those bullets only slowed him for a fraction of a second. Pregnant blood was very rich, had an aroma... and the vampire's eyes were black from hunger and bloodlust.

Ingrid processed all this in about five seconds. She was close enough, she was fast enough to get there. So she _ran. _She pulled out her knife and angled herself to intercept the vampire. Lydia was standing still, she was _standing still_! Ingrid screamed at her to run and then she had about a split second to get in the way.

This was going to hurt.

The vampire collided with her like a freight train, her head snapped back and she went up into the air. If she had been human her neck would have broken and she would have been dead before she hit the ground. The ground... Ingrid was going to hit it, _hard_, so she angled her body to the right. She was left handed, she'd sacrifice her right shoulder to keep a hold on her weapon. She had to keep a hold on that knife, it was all she had, it was all she'd be able to use to protect Lydia behind her.

Dagonet's words from her long ago training once again echoed in her mind. _"Never lose your weapon. You're wolfblooded and your weapon is your life. If it comes down to you and one of them, if you have no backup when you face a vampire down... fight. As long as you can fight, you have options. If you give up, you lose those options. So cling to that weapon in your hand... whatever it is... and fight."_

She nearly bounced she hit so hard and she felt her shoulder give way. But she popped up to her knees, held her knife out in front of her, kept her ground.

The last thing she did before facing the confused vampire again was snarl at Lydia to run. Charlie reached her by that point and dragged the now compliant Lydia away.

Reaching within her psyche she grabbed blindly for the thing that crawled and pushed inside her. The thing that made her half crazy sometimes. _'Come on you bitch... free reign... take it... I fucking need you!'_

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Half a world away Magnus Jarlsson stopped short and closed his eyes. His twin... he knew... he always knew...

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Seth was fighting what felt like an unending battle. It was ten on two for shit's sake... but it felt like it was them versus an army! Ingrid hadn't been kidding when she said that newborn created vampires were hard to kill. It seemed like nothing they did slowed them down. They healed so fast that it was like they were tearing into the same marble flesh over and over again to pull off the same limbs. They had to dismember them to get the kill. Bite sized chunks she had said. He was starting to wonder if perhaps maybe they should have called in more help. If they should have called the Cullens back to Forks from Denali.

He saw the three people come running in. Two fell to the female who literally drank them like they were a happy meal with a straw sticking out of them. Another had died when a ceiling beam came crashing onto him. It was bloody, it was messy and it was everything the newborn battle of six years ago had not been. Vampires don't bleed... they crumble. Their guts don't spill out and putrefy. Humans do.

When Leah and Paul leaped at the female as she dropped the second body, her arm whipped out and sent them flying through the vestibule wall. Through the massive hole Seth could hear the screaming of panicked people. But with the exception of those three, they seemed to be running away from the church, not towards it. Ingrid and Charlie were doing their job.

When the two 3rd ranked wolves leapt back in, they seemed to share rank more and more these days when in combat, Seth joined them along with Quil and Embry. The five of them combining their attacks with greater efficacy than before. Seth and Leah had always fought seamlessly together, it came as naturally to them as breathing. But lately she and Paul had been pairing up more and more, becoming the team that nature seemed determined to make them become.

The three of them did the main attacking. Embry and Quil cut off her escape routes. Every time Sister Joseph seemed to be about to get away, Quil and Embry were on her, forcing her back to the waiting jaws of Paul, Leah and Seth. It seemed to take forever, in reality it only lasted a few more minutes after they got their strategy down. Soon she was in pieces, the five of them tearing, biting, nearly chewing in their frantic desire to get her into pieces small enough.

"OVER HERE!" Collin yelled.

He had phased back and started a fire. Quil and Embry phased back as well and frantically began flinging the pieces of vampiric nun onto the blaze.

Jake, Sam, Jared and Brady were facing off with Father Rossi. The priest looked badly damaged, but unlike Sister Joseph, he did not scream in inarticulate rage. He calmly stared at them.

"I am chosen by G-d! I will not fall."

The look in his eyes, the way he held himself aloof. Seth could tell that Ingrid had been right. He believed his own hype. However he had made no effort to get to his female companion when it had become clear that she was going to die. Seth suspected that, at heart, the man had never really cared what happened to the deranged nun. The priest had been a trapdoor spider, pulling at all his strings to make his tiny little absolute kingdom where he was a god and all others served him. The only thing that surprised him seemed to be that his G-d had not smote the pack down when they appeared. He had not even flinched when his compatriot died for him. Sadly enough it had become clear almost immediately that she had been conditioned to do so.

Survival of the fittest... of the smartest. Seth wondered if the priest had always believed he was chosen by G-d or if eventually the delusion had somewhere along the line become the truth for him. If he had fallen victim to his own lie.

"NO!"

The scream behind the priest startled everyone. The bleach and sugar smell of the vampires, the smoke from the fire. It had masked her scent. There stood Dorothy O'Grady, shuffling toward her injured messiah, her arms outstretched.

"You cannot kill him, Don't you understand?"

Collin yelled from his place by the fire. "Lady, you need to get the hell away from him! Or you're gonna be food!"

O'Grady's expression was rapt with worship and joy. "Take what you need... it's all I want!"

It was like nothing and no one else existed for her but the man before her. Maybe they had both died that day in the camp 77 years ago. Maybe there was no other place any one of the three could possibly have ended up besides where they were.

Jake didn't stop her. Sam didn't stop her. None of them did. And for years afterward none of them could truly put into words why. The closest they came was to say that it was inevitable, that in the moment it seemed like only possible outcome. Maybe it was a little bit of pity as well. But mostly they would try not to talk about it. Try not to think of all the ways that the supernatural world could destroy someone besides just merely killing them.

O'Grady opened her arms to Rossi and he yanked her to him so fast it was a blur only the wolves could have tracked. She let out a sigh of deep fulfillment, like her life suddenly had been given meaning that it previously had not had. Her eyes closed and she murmured something so softly that not even the wolves could hear it.

It was over quickly and her body was let go with indifference. The man that she had so clearly worshiped had only faked his attachment to her. She was food, part of his herd. An important part, but still... merely cattle.

Then the pack leapt at him, even Quil and Embry phased back to join the rest. Seth was about to join them when he suddenly skidded to a halt.

Ingrid.

Something was wrong with Ingrid, she felt... different. Something was hurting her, something was.. she was... Holy shit! His imprint was fighting a vampire... _by herself!_

Seth didn't think, he didn't do anything but run, straight out through the hole in the church wall. He didn't need to track her down, he just knew where she was.

Leah turned her head, seeing her brother go careening out of the church. Images of Ingrid, some faceless vampire and blood slamming into the packmind. She too turned and nearly as quickly followed him out. Paul paused for a second and then chased after the Clearwaters. The three of them racing to where Seth was convinced his imprint was.

They found her up against a tree, making a long slash across a male vampire's face with her knife as his mouth neared her. Her eyes were nearly completely dilated and her scent had spiked, she was screaming in a rough and rage filled voice. She was like she had been that night in the bar those months ago... except worse. Then they were on him.

Ingrid fell to the side, crouching, her right arm dangling mostly useless by her side. She backed away from the snarling mass of fur, her eyes were still dilated and she shook. Small snarls and growls came out of her mouth. Unblinking she watched as the three wolves tore the vampire apart with a fury that would have been awe inspiring to see if she had been in a mental place to properly appreciate it.

When they were done, there wasn't much of him left. Leah phased back and yelled for Charlie to come and light a fire. Seth turned to face Ingrid, but when he did... she was still trying to hold in her aggression. This wasn't like the last time. He could tell she was holding on by a slender thread. Then he remembered. Wolfblooded were the basis for the myths about berserkers. And his imprint was about half a step away from completely going on a rampage. It was like the woman he knew wasn't even in there anymore. What he had witnessed at the bar when those loggers had upset her was nothing in comparison to this. He had no idea what to do and a call to her brother wasn't an option anymore, so Seth decided to go on instinct. The wolf inside him urging him to go to her and calm her by any means necessary before another packmate saw fit to do it themselves.

He went to her, paused before her so that they could be nose to muzzle. Something telling him not to phase back. She snapped her teeth at him, yelled aggressively, her scent continuing to spike as she shook. The shaking scared him, it looked like a phase stuck somewhere in the middle, but he knew it wasn't. Still, she shook. He got closer and she did a damn good approximation of a warning growl. Then Seth just placed his enormous head over her, pushed down on the back of her neck and using his superior weight, forced her to lay down. Then as much as he could without frightening her, or setting her off, he curled a bit around her.

With _any _of the other imprints this would not have been alright. The risk of injury was too great. After Sam had scarred up Emily's face the whole pack hardly ever phased in front of the humans in the know. Not even the imprints. Sure Emily, Kim and Claire knew what their imprinted wolves looked like in wolf form, but that was the extent of it.

But Ingrid wasn't human, or at least she wasn't nearly as human as the other imprints. And Seth just had a gut deep feeling that this wasn't as dangerous to her as it would have been to them. His wolf knew it too and he just kept her on the ground, with him as she shook, growled and slowly came back to herself.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Jake and Sam surveyed the damage. The only thing left was the remnants of the church, everything else had been burned. Charlie was leaving with a stack of information that he had curtly told Jake was necessary for him to have if he was going to do his job. Jake sighed and had let him leave. He had made the decision to let Charlie in on the secret and if that meant that the man was going to make himself more informed without Jake's help, than that was just going to have to be something that the pack and eventually the Cullens would have to except.

He turned to his beta. "Burn it, burn it to the ground. Everything else is already gone, I want that church to be nothing more than a black mark on the dirt."

Sam nodded. "It's not your fault Jake."

Jake just scoffed. "Yeah it is. We got too insular Sam, too worried about our own backyard to even notice what was going on next door. This should never have happened, not on our watch."

"We can't patrol everywhere Jake. Besides, the council..."

Sam never got the chance to finish what he was going to say.

"I don't give a good goddamn about the council Sam! I'm the alpha and I say we start looking out for the area around the rez. It can't just be Quiluete lives we care about Sam. It can't... or you're going to have to tell me how that sort of selfishness makes us any better than the Cullens refusal to go away, even though they know their presence makes it hard for us, just to keep Bella happy."

Sam held up his hands in supplication. "I'm not disagreeing with you Jake. Just telling you what they're going to say."

"Too bad for them." the alpha spit out.

Leah and Paul came back, both phased human and stinking of bleach and smoke.

"How's Ingrid?" Sam asked.

"She's with Seth, she's almost completely calmed down. Did Charlie tell you what she did?" Paul asked.

"Yeah." Jake said. "Something tells me that unlike when Bella hit me, if she did... she won't nearly break her hand."

Leah shook her head. "Charlie's going to take her back to his place when she's calmed down. Fix her shoulder. Seth says it's dislocated and we can't bring her to a hospital, too many questions and Carlisle isn't here to fix her."

Sam leaned against the fence. "She really took a bodycheck from a vampire?"

"Yep." Paul popped the p.

"Face it guys." Leah said. "She's not human... and if our pack is anything like the Fenrir, eventually we're going to be breeding ourselves some little Ingrids."

As Jake watched the church burn to the ground he huffed. "Right now... one is enough."

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

As Yvanne brushed the hair out of Magnus's eyes, his breathing steadied.

"Is she alright?" his wolfblooded mate asked.

"Yeah... she's okay. I don't like her being this far away 'Vanne."

"I know." she replied. "I know."

This was all coming to a head, Magnus could tell. It was only a matter of time. And when it happened, he wanted his twin by his side, not on the other side of the world.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

4 days later Ingrid walked into a hospital room. Lydia lay on a bed, holding a wriggling blanket.

"She's beautiful." Ingrid said.

Lydia looked at her. "I called his parents. Now that she's born, they seem to have realized the mistakes they made. They want us to come back home. My husband is dead, but they want to try to start again with me... and with her."

"That's wonderful Lydia." Ingrid sat on the edge of the bed. "Are you going to be alright?"

"I am now. Now that... now that I know what I'm doing again."

Ingrid sat up and touched the little baby girl's forehead, murmured something in a language that Lydia was unfamiliar with. She noticed that her hair was all tucked up and hidden in a baseball cap with the Boston Redsox logo on it.

"Your name isn't Sydney, is it?" she asked.

"No." Ingrid replied.

"All those people who disappeared up at the church, Father Rossi and Sister Joseph killed them... didn't they?"

"Yes."Ingrid replied.

The two women were silent for a time.

"Am I, is she, in any danger because of this?" Lydia asked.

"I wouldn't think so. That world, if you try your best to avoid it, if you don't go looking for it, generally, it doesn't go looking for you unless you're very unlucky. But, if you notice anything, if you think you may be in danger, call Charlie. He'll get in contact with me and I'll come get you. Okay?"

Lydia nodded and held her newborn daughter tighter.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ingrid said, still using her fake American accent.

Then she stood up and went to leave. Just before she got to the door, she turned around. "What's her name?"

"Ruth, I hated the name, but it was the name of my husband's favorite aunt. So... it's his last gift to her I guess. Her name."

"I think that's beautiful." Ingrid said and then she walked out the door and outside the hospital to where Seth was waiting.

She reached up and took her cap off. The temporary brown hair dye had washed out and it was back to it's vivid red shade, the curl was just starting to come back as well.

"Hey, you waited."

"Of course. How's the shoulder?" Seth asked.

Ingrid rotated it completely. "It's fine. I don't heal as fast as you do, but I heal plenty fast."

The two of them walked in a companionable silence.

"Thank you... you saved my life. I never could have fought off that vampire by myself. All I was hoping to do was slow it down enough for Lydia to get away."

"You're my imprint, of course I wasn't going to let that fucker hurt you anymore than he already had!" Seth exclaimed.

Ingrid stepped in front of him, stopping him with a hand on his chest. "Don't short change yourself. You would have done it for anybody, because that's the kind of person you are. You saved me because I was in trouble. Not merely because I'm your imprint. You saved me because you're a good man Seth... and you never needed the compulsion of an imprint to help you with that."

Seth quirked a half smile at her. "Thank you, that means a lot actually."

Ingrid walked ahead of him to her car. "So... you coming to Port Angeles with me?"

He shrugged and followed her to the passenger side. "Um... sure. Why are we going to P.A.?"

"Because the art store in Forks, as Quil would put it, sucks monkey balls. And I need to get some paints."

"I thought you were a photographer?" Seth asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"I am, but I still had to go to art school you know. I know how to paint and I need paints."

"Why do you need paints? I know all your commissions and projects right now and none of them include paint." he pressed.

"My aren't you the curious one."

"It's the canine in me... think of it like a dog with a bone. Woof, woof." Seth was smiling widely at her.

"The crest symbol on the front of your house desperately needs a new coat of paint. And yes, before you say anything, normally a tribal painter would do it. But I checked with Billy and he said that as your imprint, I qualify. So this is my thank you present."

Seth was humbled. To do this... it meant so much in the eyes of the Quiluete tribe. For her to paint his family's crest symbol on his home. It was a mark of acceptance so strong that his wolf nearly started rumbling in contentment.

"Ingrid, that's..."

"I know Seth. Look, I'm your imprint and you're my wolf. I'm not going to hold hands and go running to the alter with you and set about making babies. But I meant what I said about being friends. I owe you a debt Seth and friends pay their debts. Besides... you can feed me while I paint."

He laughed and turned on the radio. Alright then... lets go buy some paint.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Okay, and with this chapter we are halfway done with this story. This closes Act 2 and next chapter will transition us to Act 3. It's already written, I just need to edit it. See you soon guys. No more months long waits. I'm pretty sure I can maintain an update schedule of 2 chapters a month from here on out.


	11. Chapter 11

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

**AN: **Okay, this chapter will transition us to Act 3 and a change in location. I promised 2 updates a month and I'm getting this in right under the gun, but still... I upheld my promise! In other news, I have created a website with another author, Essathetwerp called The Word Garden. It's a place to discus and post works of original fiction, fanfiction, poetry and non-fiction. We have a little bit of everything and if any of you are interested, the link is on my author page.

Okay, enough self promotion... on to the chapter!

**Chapter Ten:**

Seth woke up on a cold Tuesday morning, frost on his window, the last three weeks had been quiet, no vampires, no infighting among the pack. As much as it ever was, things were peaceful. Which of course, he thought as he pulled on a t-shirt, meant that it wouldn't last. His cellphone beeped and he read a text message from Leah that she would meet him for lunch after she finished up something with Paul. What that something was she didn't tell him. Downstairs he could smell eggs with extra sharp cheddar cheese and tomato. A good morning.

After he was washed and dressed in some semi ratty hanging around clothes he heard the tell-tale sounds of someone working on the outside of his house. Grinning he stuck his head out his bedroom window.

"You're here early Ing. It's only just 8 o'clock."

Ingrid turned to him, her hair stuffed into a beanie and her nose red in the brisk autumn air. She had pots of black, red, white and yellow paint next to her on the wooden bean she sat on. Several different types of paint brushes were in a stand to her left and her fingers were mottled and stained with paint.

"You're not so quick on the uptake." she said. "I've been here since 6:30, and by the way... you snore. I could hear you through your window."

She was almost done with the repainting on the Clearwater family crest symbol. It was particularly complicated because Sue was half Makah and once she had married into the Clearwater family they had gained access to her crest imagery. So it had been added to theirs. It was a highly stylized, highly dynamic design and Ingrid had been giving it all her attention for two weeks.

"I finished the whale." she continued as Seth climbed out to perch on the second floor scaffolding with her.

"You really like all the whale stuff around here don't you?" he asked.

"Well, yeah... I do. I've been taking some close up shots of a lot of the carvings and paintings of the whales around here. I'm actually thinking of traveling throughout the region and taking as many shots as I can. Maybe try to publish an art book of my Native whale photos. Who knows."

Seth just nodded, he liked that she was making plans. No one was really sure what Ingrid's ultimate decision would be once her three year exile was over. But it made life easier on everyone that she seemed to have decided to go about it with a modicum of grace. Her assistance with the cult had also changed things. She still wasn't pack and she was still the imprint least connected with her wolf, but Jake and the rest had begun treating her like a valuable ally. It had done wonders for the way Ingrid treated them in return.

He sat there and watched her for a while, Sue, eventually tiring of waiting for him to come downstairs and get his eggs, made a plate for him and handed it to him out his bedroom window. He gestured with his fork to Ingrid to see if she wanted any eggs, but she shook her head no. Finally Seth grew curious.

"Nobody's messed with that since my mother was pregnant with me. Is it hard to do?"

She moved her paints and patted the spot next to her. "Come here, I'll show you."

He moved next to her and she put her paint brush in his hand and then placed it against the wood of his house, exactly where she had left off painting. "Let me guide your hand, alright?"

Seth nodded, actually a little pleased to be doing something that was about his tribe but wasn't about hunting or killing something. This was important too and for a brief moment he wondered how he had forgotten that, he wondered if they all had forgotten that.

Ingrid held Seth's hand on the brush, letting him feel the movement as she used it to fill in the lines of his family's crest symbol.

"Feel how the stiffness of the brush helps you with the contour lines? It should be easy, just a flowing of the wrist. Once the form lines and the contour lines are done, you fill them in with the black. For that you use a thinner and more flexible brush."

Seth nodded and watched as she sat on the scaffolding in front of his house with her paints, her brushes and a look of complete concentration on her face. He could tell that the most important thing on Ingrid's mind right now was his crest. It felt good to have something of his be so important to her. It felt even better that she had so obviously studied his tribe's art forms.

"All this horror vaccui is amazing Seth. I did a lot of studying to paint it. This section is particularly complex, can you see all the different line work?"

"What does horror vaccui mean?" he asked.

"It's Latin, translated literally it means fear of empty spaces. But in art it means that all the empty spaces are filled in with design. It's a very stylized way to paint and draw and it's very hard to master. I would never be able to do this freehand, the only way I can do this at all is because I'm tracing over the work of the last person who painted it."

Smiling at her Seth asked her if she had had her morning coffee. "You don't smell as caffeinated as you usually do." he said.

She chuckled. "Nope, my coffee maker is on the fritz and Starbucks wasn't open yet when I drove by. I'm starting to get withdrawals you should know."

Seth jumped off the scaffolding to the ground. "I'll go inside and make you some, we wouldn't want you to get the shakes now would we?"

Ingrid watched him and laughed again. "Cheeky, very cheeky."

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Paul was watching Leah, they were in the nursery in Forks and Leah was looking over... compost. She was trying to get a community garden started on the rez to help the tribe deal with the fact that the majority of it's members could not afford fruits and vegetables at the retail prices in the supermarket in Forks. She'd gotten her plot of land for it, but there was a lot to do to turn it into arable soil. Which was why she was at the ironically named Sunshine Nursery.

"It's dirt Leah, how different could it be from the five other bags of dirt you decided weren't good enough? Just grab one... hell do yourself a favor and grab the cheapest and lets move on!"

Leah just looked at him witheringly. "It's not dirt, it's composted soil! And good soil means good food grown. And... just let me deal with this. Oh look Paul... they have a garden hose grip that looks like a gun... you ought to like that."

He stared at her and then walked up close enough to be invading her personal space just a bit. "Yeah... that's why I woke up at 7:30am to come to Garden Geeks R' Us... for the gun grip on the hose."

Then he looked down and grabbed a bag. "This is in your price range, and you said you wanted organic and it's organic. And it says on this handy sign here that they will deliver as much of this shit... which since it also says that it contains worm poop, is an appropriate way to describe it... to your garden as you want. So... let's buy it."

Leah just stood there blinking. "You were paying attention to what I said while we were driving here?"

"Why does everyone think I'm some sort of idiot? And Leah... I listen to what you have to say a hell of a lot more than you think I do."

She didn't know what to say to that, but she recognized the feeling deep in her belly. It was the same feeling that she had gotten those years ago when Sam had made the first concrete gestures of wanting more than friendship back in their high school years. She and Sam had had five great years till he imprinted on Emily. Then Leah had been alone. She had tried dating eventually, after the packs had split, after the Volturri had left. But, how do you date someone when you have to lie to them constantly? Her deceit doomed each and every relationship and she hadn't even bothered looking at a man in a year and a half. What was the point? If your mate wasn't your imprint, you weren't allowed to tell. Frankly she was starting to think that rule was a load of bull. It made it so that only the imprinted wolves got to have a life. Somehow she thought that their ancestors would have words with the council... if they could.

"I... I listen to what you have to say too."

Inwardly she winced. _'I listen to what you have to say too? Oh great Clearwater! While you're at it, why don't you walk into a wall to complete this moment of awkward?'_

Paul just smirked and followed her around Sunshine Nursery, stepping in and just grabbing items when Leah's indecision stretched out the waiting too long. It took them about three or four hours, but they finally got everything, scheduled a delivery to Leah's garden and loaded up Paul's truck. After going through the Burger King drive thru, they headed back to the rez.

"Do do you need any help... tilling? Or whatever the hell it is that you call it when make dirt ready to plant stuff in it?"

Leah couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up at the way he talked about gardening. He could truly care less about it... but he seemed earnest in his desire to help out.

"Paul, you are many things, but eloquent is not one of them." she said.

"Not when it comes to gardening I'm not. For that matter, when did you start getting into plants? It seemed like you moved out, got your apartment and then the thing was swimming in plants like a week later."

She shrugged. "I needed a hobby, a distraction. Believe it or not, having something to do with my time helped me move on from Sam and Emily. I mean... I had to do something and I remember my father liked to grow vegetables and he talked to his plants... so I decided to give it try. It worked. It still works."

Paul turned on the radio and started down the dirt road to Leah's plot of land. "I'm glad you decided on this and not fishing. I'm not sure that the idea of you fishing with Billy and Charlie is very appealing."

"Way to ruin a moment Paul."

He laughed. "What can I say? It's a gift."

When they got there the whole thing was overgrown with weeds, the fence surrounding it was covered in wet rot and collapsing... and reeked of mildew. There was trash all over the place and a used condom hung from the gate like some sort of sad little attempt at a welcome to the neighborhood gift.

Paul was not impressed. "The council gave you _this_? You come up with a damn good plan to help feed the tribe nutrients they're lacking and they give you... _this_?"

Leah nodded and flicked the condom off her gate with a long stick. "No one's used it in generations, it was this or try to plant way to close to the beach. It was this or nothing and... and protecting our people has to mean more than just making sure they don't get eaten by vampires Paul. So... I'm trying to do more, and this is it."

Paul looked intently at her. Then without a word he kissed her lightly and started unloading the truck and putting the supplies in the dilapidated shed in the front corner of the plot.

"You helping or not?" he asked. "We have to meet Seth and Red for lunch in less than two hours."

"We?" Leah said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, _we_... got a problem with that?"

She absolutely studied him for a second. "Don't know... haven't decided yet."

"Well don't take too long making up your mind... or grabbing those rakes."

Leah was quiet as she helped unload everything and find it a home. Paul Wakeh, he could be a really good match for her... or he could be her next Sam Uley. The thought of going through that again had her stuck at a crossroads. It was one thing to to say take your chances and risk it all, what else was life for? It was another thing to say that after you _have _risked it all... and lost.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Magnus Jarlsson sat in his rooms, staring into the fire that was lit in his bedroom. The smell of Yvanne calmed him a bit. She had begun spending more of her nights here ever since the confrontation with his father. For his part, Magnus had become more open about his attachment to her, appearing with her more and more in public. Both he and his wolf were tired of acting like they were made of stone, that they had no wish for a mate and partner in life.

The cold was everywhere, seeping in through every crack it could find. Shifters ran at 108 degrees, but the near arctic cold could penetrate even their fur and skin. The last of the evacuations of the northernmost villages of the Sami had taken place and the war had begun. It had already begun in autumn, the increased vampiric activity as they took advantage of the long nights and ever shorter days, the ever increasing dark. But with the start of the winter next week, and the last true sunrise his people would see for months... the war would begin in earnest.

Magnus looked at the flames licking at the stone and wondered how many of his people would die. There was a pattern to it, one he had begun to sense in his fourth year as a wolf. A measure of first years would always die, drunk on their new found strength they would rush at things they had no business taking on and some of them would inevitably die. The one's who survived would be far more cautious the next few years. Magnus noticed that they didn't lose as many second through seventh years, but when the eighth year rolled around the wolves began to think themselves experienced warriors, invincible because they had lasted nearly a decade as warriors. Here was where the next glut of casualties usually lay. Eighth through tenth years tended to die in large numbers, full of their opinions of themselves, all strength and and anger and ego, very little caution and tactics. He could already guess at who was likely to die from that group.

Then came the final knot of wolves likely to be killed in the ensuing war, the truly elderly. If a wolf survived their first year, and then what they all jokingly called their adolescence, they were fine for a long time. Short of bad luck, they tended to survive. Till they started finding it easier to clock their age in fifty year increments. Wolves over 300 years old started to _want _to die. Too many years watching loved ones age and pass on. Too many years outliving their wolfblooded children, sometimes of having their children die in combat. Too many times outliving a mate. There came a time when it got to be too much. This group was hallmarked by suicidal attacks on the enemy.

Fenrir did not commit overt suicide, they did not retire... but death in battle was a way out that brought no shame on them nor their line. So if a wolf was truly tired of their existence, it was acceptable to go to what the others called in an almost sacred sense 'the last battle'. It was honorable and honor was very nearly everything to the Fenrir.

Dagonet and Hilde belonged to this group, and as their mate Karolina would often say, their memories haunted them. Both of them were in their third century and being a longtime mated pair before Dagonet imprinted on Karolina, they had had children. They had outlived a portion of those children and as for any parent who outlives a child, it hurt them deeply. Two had simply died of old age and one had died in battle. A parent never forgets nor stops loving a child who has gone before them and even though all three had died before Karolina was born, her mates were a shadow of themselves on their birthdays and the anniversaries of their deaths.

Privately Magnus thought that Dagonet's imprinting on Karolina had given him and Hilde a new lease on life. They became the Jarl pack's only current threemating and Dagonet's booming laughter and Hilde's full toothed grin became a part of pack life again. The three of them became a family and Magnus was glad of it, he wasn't sure how he would have fared in his role of beta if he hadn't had the two older wolves to learn from and rely upon.

If a Fenrir lived past the five hundred mark, they started being called ancient, and the ancient ones went down _hard. _Too many years surviving, thinking tactically, killing and fighting made them extremely hard to kill. However... it was rare to live that long, the nature of their environment culled too many Fenrir of _all_ ages from their ranks to have a large group of ancients to help them. Most of them eventually went to Freya's pack, something about the Eldest drew the old ones to her leadership. If the Jarl's pack was the most powerful, with some of the strongest wolves, the Eldest's pack was the most dangerous with the some of the oldest and wiliest wolves.

More than one Fenrir thought that that was to the good, that it was a sort of balance of power. The Jarl and the Eldest, and the nation of Fenrir in between, all facing the vampires and the dark and the cold.

Magnus held one of Yvanne's scarves in his hands as he thought on all of this. If everything went well, if he survived the winter, he would make his and his wolf's attachment to Yvanne official, he would properly claim her as his mate. He would make a home and a family with her. This winter would be his test, he could feel it. He was without his twin sister for the for the first winter of his life, he would have to rely upon his own strength to guide him. If he proved equal to the task, then he was worthy of having a mate.

No one held Magnus Jarlsson to a higher standard than he held himself.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Ingrid was up to her elbows in dirt. She agreed with Paul, it didn't matter what Leah wanted to call this stuff, it was dirt and she was covered in it. She, Seth and Paul were helping Leah prepare the dirt, or soil as she called it, in her giant vegetable garden to sleep out the winter. Something about getting rid of all the weeds at seed level, making actual layered and composted beds and then they got to tarp the whole thing to sit in it's nutrients and marinate for the winter. According to the she-wolf, her garden would be full of "black gold" come spring if they did this properly and she would be able to plant a ton of vegetables and fruit for the tribe here.

She was also a complete tyrant and Ingrid had already threatened to shove a trowel up her ass if she came up to her one more time to demonstrate proper weed suffocation.

"Why did I agree to do this again?" she mused aloud.

"Because you're nuts?" Seth answered.

"If I'm nuts, what's your excuse?" Ingrid asked.

Leah interrupted them with a sharp and biting laugh. "He's my ever dedicated and dutiful younger brother and he wants his sister to always have success."

The she wolf got hit in the face with a clod of dirt and Seth went back to digging and whistling. His sister, however, growled at him and it wasn't long before the two siblings were rolling on the ground, laughing and demanding that the other call uncle.

As the other two watched them with smiles on their faces Paul asked Ingrid if she was coming to the barbeque at the Redclay's.

"I had planned on it. The whole pack plus family members will be there, right?"

"Usually." Paul said. "Only Embry and Sam won't be. They have patrol. It's sort of a tradition, soon it's going to get way too cold for us to have shirtless cookouts and all that without getting everyone suspicious. So this is like our last gasp before we have to really put on an act for a few months. Jake started it when he reunited the packs and took over."

"Seth told me all about what happened. Bella, Nessie, the Volturri. Sounds like it was quite the soap opera."

Paul laughed. "It was. And to tell you the truth no one really knows why the Cullens stay here. I mean, Nessie's nearly old enough to pass for an adult now and Jake and Bella aren't as close as they used to be. When Jake reunited us, he really became what we think an alpha is supposed to be. The tribe had to come first, not Bella. I mean I think he's still in love with her a bit, but it's more nostalgic than anything else."

Ingrid nodded. "First love you know, you never forget it. I still remember my first love. I'm not in love with him anymore, but I think of him with a smile I guess."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. My first love is off living in Chicago somewhere with a husband and a career. I'm not panting after her or anything... but when I see her in Forks when she comes to visit her mother, it makes me remember."

"Awww, lookit that, Paulie has a soft spot in there after all!"

The Clearwater siblings had declared their mock battle a draw and were looking at Paul and Ingrid... and mocking them. Soon that had all three La Push wolves mock fighting... and having a great time. Ingrid leaned against one of the only sturdy fence posts there was and drank a beer. Occasionally she would call out encouragement and it soon became clear that she had a favorite wolf. Leah. And then Paul and Seth declared it guys against girls and Ingrid was swept away from the fence, her beer bottle flying through the air like some sort of alcohol fueled rocket as she was pulled into the fray.

All in all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

"Ya know Lee, when you said you wanted a plot of ground to make a community garden I didn't think that you were going to include mud wrestling. You should've said something, there are about five girls I'd love to see wrestle you or Ingrid."

Everyone stopped and looked sheepishly at their alpha. Today Paul was third and Leah was fourth, so Paul stepped forward and took the blame.

"It was fun? It seemed like a good idea at the time?"

Jake just laughed. "I can tell. In case you forgot the time kiddies, it's two hours till the cookout, so go home and clean up. Janice will deny me food if you track mud all over her place and she's cooking stew tonight. Stew. I'm not giving up her cooked over a fire pit stew for you four."

"The twin's mother has you so wrapped around her little finger Jake."

"Too true Lee, too true. If only she was single, I could have her and her tasty treats at the same time." Jake said.

Seth flicked some mud out of his eyes. "Dude, don't ever think that on patrol with Collin or Brady, they'll gag and maybe try and bite you."

"I was _kidding _Seth." the alpha replied. "I'm not after Mrs. Redclay. Her stew on the other hand, her stew has been catching my wandering eye lately."

Ingrid barked a laugh and keeping a respectful distance and body stance she poked fun at the alpha for the first time. "Some guys jerk off to porn, Jake jerks off to Janice Redclay's stew. That's a really specific kink there Jake."

Jake just blinked at her. Ingrid usually had little say to him, especially around other packmembers. He wasn't sure but he thought it had something to do with her father. Ingrid had learned at a young age that alphas were absolute in their strength and held the power of life and death over their packs. She had learned to fear alpha types in ways most people surrounding Jake hadn't. It made him hate Gunnar Jarlsson just a little bit more every time he thought of the man.

So he smiled at her and gave a soft laugh. Then he stood off to the side with her as she clapped the mud out of her shoes.

"You did a real good job on the Clearwater crest symbol. You're the first artist the pack has had around. None of us knew you knew how to paint."

"Well, I'm a photographer. Painting is something I can do, and I enjoy, but it's not my passion if you know what I mean. Photos are... but I like to keep my feet wet in the medium."

Jake shook his head in agreement. "I understand, but if you're willing, most of the pack's family crests could use some work and when you have the time, we'd like for you to be the one to do it. We'd pay you."

She shook her head. "I don't need the money and it wouldn't be right to take it anyway. We're allies, I'll do it for free... I'm not going to take your money."

What she didn't say was that she was well aware that none of the pack could afford her anyway. Ingrid was an academically trained photographer and painter, commissioning her was expensive and the pack had a hard enough time earning the money that they had to waste it on hiring her. To take their money for something she should be happy to do for free would be dishonorable and like all Fenrir, Ingrid found being dishonorable to be unacceptable.

Jake shook on it and soon everyone was going their separate ways to clean up and get ready for the cookout. Seth walked her to her car, both of them enjoying a companionable silence as they walked. There was an ease to their relationship now. They had come a long way from the regrets and recriminations that had been a hallmark of their attachment previously. Now they were friends. It might not be what the council wanted of them and it might not be what some of the other wolves and imprints wanted of them, but it was working for them. And as far as Jake was concerned, that was what was important. The rest could find some other way to occupy their time.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Magnus was resting in Yvanne's office, watching his lover go over the checklist of the seemingly unending list of repairs that needed to be finished on the stone behemoth his pack called home when he smelled Enni. She smelled, nervous, not that that was altogether unusual. With the death of Sindre a little over a month prior, Enni had become the pack's omega. While she was brilliant, Enni was not dominant in the slightest, so she always had a small air of nerves in the presence of high ranking wolves. But this... this smelled different.

It smelled different enough that even Yvanne looked up. "Enni? Are you alright?" she asked.

Enni twisted her hands. "I... I think there's a problem, but I'm not sure what to do about it."

Yvanne stood up and got a chair for the nervous she wolf to sit in across from Magnus, then she stood back behind her desk to listen.

Magnus leaned forward, elbows on his knees and waited for Enni to begin.

"I made my last checks, all the Sami were evacuated and placed in towns further to the south. All except one group. The Northcape Sami. Our wolfblooded contact in the town they were supposed to go to said they never arrived. And I contacted all the other alphas. No one had orders to take them to safety. And none of our people went to Northcape this time. I think... I think they're still up there... waiting for us. And if they are..."

Magnus' voice was heavy. "If they are, they're sitting ducks. Did we have any people with them for the summer?"

Enni tilted her head. "Just Mika. But Mika makes the rounds of all the northern Sami to get the word out that we're coming. He's been back here for about a week."

The beta stood up, angry power rolling over him in waves. "Get Dagonet and Hilde, summon the pack... half of us will run with me to Northcape, the rest will stay here and defend our territory."

Yvanne closed her eyes. "Magnus if Dagmar botched the evacuations..."

His voice was very nearly an inarticulate growl. "If the bolverk screwed this up, not even my father will be able to protect her. Not anymore."

Then he turned to her and took a deep breath. "Yvanne, with Ingrid gone, you're the wolfblooded with the most experience. Gather them up and divide them into two groups, the ones going with me and the ones staying here."

"But Magnus... There are others more suited to that task than I!" she seemed shocked that he would ask her this. Her job had always kept her on the edge of pack politics, of Fenrir politics in general. It looked like that was coming to an end.

He held her shoulders. "What you've done previously doesn't matter. It's what I need you to do now that matters. Can you do this for me?"

She could tell that this was a turning point, the pivot point in their relationship. Could he, the future Jarl depend on her? Could he lean on her to help him along his path? It wasn't even a question, the answer wasn't even in doubt, not to her anyway.

"I'll get it done. The ones going with you will be waiting in the courtyard."

Twenty minutes later Magnus stood outside with Hilde. It had been determined that with the beta gone Dagonet had to stay at the hall. Hilde hadn't a shot in hell of keeping any sort of hold on the ever more unstable Jarl, but Dagonet had been Gunnar's beta before, knew him like the back of his hand. He could accomplish more than than his mate could. So though it made him uncomfortable in the extreme... he stayed and watched his mate and his imprint prepare to leave without him.

"The Northcape Sami were not evacuated. Those gathered here are the pack's fastest runners, quickest fighters, most enduring wolfblooded. We have to make quickest run we've ever made to the Northcape. Wolfblooded will each ride a wolf, we have no time to wait. Karolina, we may be looking at some pretty bad casualties, so you have to go with us. We'd leave you here but..."

Karolina shook her head at that beta. "I'm fine Magnus and I know my duty. I'll be fine."

Magnus jutted his chin towards Hilde. "You'll go with your mate then." Then he held the eyes of everyone else there. "If they're still up there they are depending on us to get them to safety. No faltering, do what you have to do get the job done. Understood?"

Then they were gone, running as fast as they could, trying to cover the most ground on the shortest route possible. They hoped for survivors, but were prepared for the worst.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Ingrid sat on the Redclay's deck and watched and listened to Seth's pack. Contentious as they could be, they were family. She could tell who got along with who and who didn't. They were family, even the ones who weren't the best of friends would still kill and die for each other. Jared and Seth were a good example. They didn't really get along all that well and never hung out together outside of pack functions, but if the shit hit the fan, there was no question... they had each others backs.

All the imprints were there, including the one that had thrown Ingrid for a loop. Claire Penning, the seven year old imprint of Quil Atera Jr., when she had been told the story and how he had imprinted on her when she was two, Ingrid had been shocked speechless. She had never heard of anyone imprinting on a child before and when she said that there had been questions galore. Eventually everyone had to accept that fact that as far as anyone could tell... Quil's situation was unique.

When Quil had shown up to Ingrid's house that night and drank himself into a near stupor, quite an accomplishment for someone with his metabolism, Ingrid had just sat with him and listened. She hadn't really known what to say. Ingrid was a fixer, if you came to her with a problem, she would try and fix it for you. When people just wanted to rant or cry on her shoulder... she always felt a little bit lost and unsure of what she should do. However, listening had been what Quil had needed and at the end he had hugged the Norwegian, thanked her for her time and her alcohol and staggered home.

Claire was currently telling Quil a story about a boy in her class, his name was Jeff, and apparently she and Jeff played house a lot, though Claire wondered of they were getting too old for that now. And when they did play house, she liked for Jeff to be the dad and her to be the mom. It was very clear that Claire was deep in the grips of her first little girl crush. It was adorable. Even Quil thought so and was giving her hints on how to tell if Jeff liked her in return.

Then Emily interjected. "You know Claire, honey, you shouldn't play house with Jeff anymore."

"Why not?" Claire asked.

"Because your Quil's imprint, when you play house you should want Quil to be the dad." she replied.

Quil stood up, and gently took Emily's elbow. "Please don't say things like that to her Emily. Claire is a little girl and I want her to do all the things that little girls do, and teenagers do. Have crushes, play house, date when she's older. Have a life. Please don't tell her that she can't do those things. It upsets her and it bothers me."

Emily frowned and looked bothered. "But she's your imprint Quil, you have to protect your place in her life!"

"My place in her life is to protect it. That's what I'm doing."

Ingrid leaned closer to the conversation, they weren't that far away from her and she seemed to be the only one paying attention to them.

"That's not your place in her life Quil. You aren't taking your duty to her seriously, you're being just like Seth!" Her voice sounded a bit haughty, like she was the teacher trying to steer a misinformed youth back onto the right path.

Quil looked pissed off for just a moment. "What gives you the right to determine what Seth and I should do about our imprints?"

"I'm the beta's imprint."

She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like her status was something no one should question. That that status made her... right. Made her correct in her judgments.

From above them Ingrid snorted out a laugh. "Good for you"

Emily looked up at her and tried to hold her gaze, but Ingrid's eyes bored into her and Emily broke the line of sight first. The La Push imprints were informally ranked by their wolf's rank. However it was no secret that Ingrid was far more dominant than any of the other imprints. If she had been part of the pack Jake had mused that she might have actually held a rank in it... and thus far out stripped any status the other imprints held.

It was something that upset Emily's static and well ordered world, and she had never been particularly good at dealing with anything that did that. But instead of saying anything to Ingrid, she just gave her a look and walked away.

Quil sighed. "Thanks Red."

Ingrid shook her head. "What is it with that nickname? Paul started it and the rest of you jumped right on. Well... the ones of you that like me that is. Jared, Sam and Brady call me Ingrid, they never abbreviate it."

Quil laughed once, a tired sound. "That's because they don't like you much."

Then he waved at her and went to get some plates for Claire's parents. Sometimes... sometimes it seemed like being a wolf took more away than it gave. Sometimes he thought that Ingrid and her kind were insane for thinking it was a gift. How could anything this complicated be a gift? Unless the giver was a sadist, no one wanted their gifts to cause as many problems as being a wolf caused.

A few hours later Seth found Ingrid sitting in a chair rubbing her temples.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I think something's up with my brother. I feel... like I'm stretched over too much space and something's pulling on the other end. That usually only happens when something is wrong with him."

Seth took the plate from her lap. "Do you want to call him?"

He was worried, she and her brother were so close and he didn't want to think about what might happen to his imprint if something happened to her twin while she was here. He knew she wasn't psychic, but his experiences with Collin and Brady had taught him how close wolf twins were. They were always aware of each other, they always knew if the other was hurt and how badly. Ingrid and Magnus seemed to be the same way. The pack was learning through Ingrid how far those bonds between wolf twins could stretch. While Seth was closer to Leah than anyone else in the pack, and perhaps had a deeper bond with her than anyone else save for Jake... he was glad his bond wasn't a twin bond. While useful, it also seemed to be a bit more trouble than it was worth.

"No." Ingrid replied. "He's not hurt, I can tell. It's an emotional thing and if it was really that bad, he would contact me. Regardless of what our father says."

Seth just wordlessly handed her a cup of coffee. He was well versed in women and their harmless addictions. When Leah was off kilter, he would get her chocolate, he had learned to get coffee for Ingrid. For his mother it was tea. Then he sat next to her and waited till she adjusted to the pull on her from her brother. As he sat there, Leah and Paul came out from the treeline.

"Do they..." Ingrid was looking at the two with a narrowed gaze. "They seem... disheveled."

Seth sniffed and then his eyes widened. "Oh man... this complicates things."

Ingrid just started to laugh softly. "They practically share a rank anyway, I guess they're going to share a bed now."

He didn't seem as amused as his imprint. "I can't believe she would put herself through this twice!"

"You mean the Sam thing?"

"Yeah." he replied. "What happens if he imprints? Or she does? Her heart already got ripped out of her chest once, I watched her nearly self destruct Ingrid... I can't sit by and watch it a second time."

He was staring at Paul like he wanted to rip his face right off, the animalistic side of him growling.

"Well, she won't imprint Seth, she wolves don't. Their heat cycle would screw up an imprinting bond so badly it would be hell on earth. They don't imprint and they don't get imprinted on because of that. Or so we think anyway. As for Paul... well, maybe he won't. Though I have to tell you, your pack has far more imprints than I've ever seen in a pack your size. My pack is fifteen strong right now, and we only have three imprinted wolves. In a pack your size it should only be one or two. It's weird."

Seth was staring at her. "What do you mean a heat cycle?"

Ingrid sat back and looked at him, looked around at the pack spread out around the yard. "Jesus... you really don't know much do you? You've lost so much of your history though that it's not surprising. Seth, she wolves become full grown sometime between four and six years after their first phase, they go into heat and that marks the end of their cub stage of life. If... crap... if Leah and Jake don't know about this, hell if Paul doesn't... I really need to talk to them after the cookout, I really..."

Whatever Ingrid would have said next was cut off as she keeled over face first into the dirt. It happened so fast that Seth didn't even catch her.

"INGRID!" he yelled.

She was trying to get up and coughing. "Seth... Magnus... so mad... can't think..." Then she began to speak rapid fire in Norwegian and Seth couldn't follow her. When she started to shake and and begin to crawl away from the cookout he started yelling for Jake.

His alpha was there in a second's time. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't KNOW!" Seth sounded panicked. "She was saying that something was bothering her brother and was sitting over here dealing with it... like Collin and Brady do. We were talking and then she fell over, said he was so mad and now she's babbling in Norwegian and shaking. What the HELL do I DO?"

Jake could only tell him the truth, as inadequate as it was. "I don't know Seth."

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

When Magnus and his group hit Northcape there was nothing to save. The frozen bodies of the Sami were flung around the snow. Men, women, children... drained dry and tossed to the ground like so much trash. They spread out and looked for survivors, and at first it looked like a group had survived, but they hadn't gotten far before the cold and the injuries they had sustained killed them just as surely as the vampires would have. They found the small group huddled together and dead a mile away.

Magnus was barely holding it together. "Collect the dead... we'll burn them here. We will NOT leave their bodies open to the elements any longer."

Hilde picked up the body of a little boy, no more than four years old. "We cannot let this stand Magnus... these people were _our_ responsibility. We failed them, _she _failed them. We have to stop this, it's clear your father won't. The Jarl is no longer fit to lead, not if he keeps his imprint."

Karolina had seen much death in her time as the pack medic... but the sheer and utter waste of this made her stomach turn and she retched in snow. This should never have happened.

One of the younger pack members, an adolescent named Sven began to make a pyre, the wolves kept bringing bodies to burn. Bodies that should have been alive and in a town far from this and safe.

Magnus turned to his fourth ranked wolf. "We're going to contact the thirteen, starting with Freya, all the alphas, we have to Gather. My father will repudiate Dagmar... or he will step down, those are his only choices now."

"It's during Winter War Magnus, can we Gather right now without giving the vampires too much of an advantage?" Hilde asked.

"It doesn't matter, this crime can't go unpunished... we have no choice... it has to happen now."

Hilde nodded. "What about Ingrid? She's in exile... but she's the most dominant of the wolfblooded, she _has_ to represent them in a Gather."

Magnus took a deep breath. "I'll contact her, her exile is rescinded... she will come home."

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

It was hours later, Ingrid was lying on the sofa in the Redclay's house, she had a splitting headache and had nearly chewed a bottle of Excedrin to take the edge off it. When she had finally regained the ability to speak in English, all she would say was that her brother was enraged like she had never felt before, that something was seriously wrong in her home and that he would contact her.

When the phone rang she grabbed with an almost snakelike quickness. She made no attempt to speak in English, and no one had any idea what was going on. When she covered her eyes and her body took on a posture of extreme grief, Seth and the rest assumed the worst.

Finally she looked at them. "My exile is over, I need to go home. All the alphas of the Fenrir nation are going to Gather. My father will be told to either repudiate his imprint or they will demand he step down and pass the title of Jarl to my brother. In a Gather I represent the wolfblooded. By law this rescinds my exile and I must return home or my kind will have no voice in the Gather."

Sam looked confused. "What did she do?"

"She caused the death of every single man, woman and child in our most northern protectorate." The rage in Ingrid's voice was nearly palpable.

"Jesus..." Leah whispered.

"You aren't going alone. I'm going with you." Seth interjected.

"I figured as much, as did my brother, he bought you a ticket along with me. Alpha Black, through my connection to Seth, and his presence in the Gather, you have a political stake in this. You will be allowed to send four members of your pack, of which Seth is one. Plane tickets will be provided by my family."

Ingrid's tone and speech was highly formal, Seth had the feeling that he was looking at the side of his imprint that had once been her father's bolverk. Someone who was used to speaking with authority.

Jake nodded. "I'll go and Leah, I want you in on this as well."

Ingrid held up her hand. "Alpha Black, you are a foreign alpha. Your presence on Fenrir soil before the formulation of a treaty between your pack and the Fenrir will be seen as an act of aggression. However, sending your beta will be seen as the act of a prudent and politically astute leader."

Jake looked like he had just sucked on a lemon. He did _not _like the idea of sending any of his pack into what was so obviously a powder keg of a situation without him there. But he could tell that he had no choice.

"Sam, you're going instead of me then. So that means you, Leah, Seth and..." he looked around at his pack and his eyes settled on Quil. "Quil, pack your bags. The four of you are going with Ingrid."

Paul immediately protested, his eyes repeatedly going to Leah. He had come to stand next to her and his hand was settled on the small of her back. "I should go instead of Quil, Jake."

"No." Jake said. "I need you here. I can't send all my wolves in leadership positions Paul. You need to stay here and help me run our territory. With Sam and Leah gone, you'll be the acting beta."

Ingrid nodded at Jake and began speaking in Norwegian again to her brother, then she hung up the phone. "Tickets in our names will be waiting for us. We fly out first thing tomorrow morning. May I recommend packing heavier clothes. Fenrir territory is quite cold and we're arctic wolves. I'm not sure your pelts will be thick enough to be entirely comfortable in the weather we have. So pack things to keep your human forms at least warm enough."

Sam sighed. "I need to go home and tell Emily I'm going to be gone for a while. I'll meet you guys at the airport tomorrow morning."

With that the beta left, they could already hear the gears grinding in his head as he walked away. In all honesty, he was far better suited to such a political firestorm as this had the potential to be than Jake was.

Quil said his goodbyes quickly and headed to his grandfather's house to let him know the situation. Keeping the council abreast of news was sort of his unofficial position in the pack due to his bloodline.

Paul and Leah exchanged an intense look and without a word left in the direction of her apartment, his arm wound around her waist tightly.

Soon only Jake, Seth and Ingrid were left in the room.

"Be careful." Jake said. "I'm sending you five over there. I expect to get all five of you back."

"Five?" Ingrid asked.

"Yeah, five Red. You come back, let me know you're okay and then you go where ever you need to go. Just let me know I didn't agree to send you to your death."

Then the alpha left and Seth and Ingrid began to walk to Ingrid's car.

"I'm not going to abandon you to this." Seth said, conviction radiating out from him.

"I never expected you to." She replied. "It's not the kind of man you are. But... my people are different from yours and we do things differently."

Seth slung an arm over her shoulders. "Trust me... I'm aware.

**AN: **From here on in we will be deep in the Fenrir storyline and Scandinavia. I hope you enojy it. Happy Halloween everyone. Eat, drink and be merry!


	12. Chapter 12

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

**AN: ** Hello all. I doubt I will be able to keep my 2 chapters a month promise this month, but I will try. There's been quite a lot of construction around my home this week and it has seriously impacted my internet access and my children's sanity. In other news, I have created a website with another author, Essathetwerp, called The Word Garden. It's a place to discus and post works of original fiction, fanfiction, poetry and non-fiction. We have a little bit of everything and if any of you are interested, the link is on my author page.

Okay, enough self promotion... on to the chapter!

**Chapter Eleven:**

Jake and Paul were in the diner at the Seattle airport, they had just seen Sam, Leah, Seth, Ingrid and Quil off and were loading themselves up on shitty airport food before the drive back to La Push. Paul was looking out the window at the tarmac, his jaw clenching and Jake was looking at Paul.

"So you and Leah, huh?"

Paul curtly nodded his head once. "Yeah. Me and Leah."

"It was sort of bold of you to have sex with her at the barbeque you know."

"How did you... nevermind." Paul said.

"Dude, the two of you disappeared and when you came back, she had freshly fucked hair and you both smelled like sex and each other. And even _if _we were all too brain dead to notice that, you've been sniffing around her for a while now and she's been letting you. It's not exactly a shocker."

Paul pushed his runny eggs away. "You have a tone Jake, it's the 'I'm not sure I approve but I want to hear you out' alpha tone that you get. Just spit it out already."

Jake paused, gathered his thoughts, Leah and Paul, Paul and Leah... without a doubt his two most volatile wolves. If Sam and Leah had been a bit of an opposites attract type of couple, Paul and Leah were more like the male and female versions of each other. He was not intimidated by them, but he also realized that it was foolish to antagonize them... just because he could.

"In a way, I suppose this was a bit inevitable. Ever since I reunited the packs, you two have shared a rank. You switch back and forth less and less these days, more often you're just both third ranked. If we were real wolves the two of you would just have a bloody and brutal fight to determine who ranked who. But we're not, so perhaps this is just a more judicious way for you to deal with it."

Paul had to admit that his alpha had a point. "I think, that our fighting before had a lot to do with that actually. She was always _right there_. I could tell that all she needed was a little more time and she may take my rank and it made me aggressive. Maybe... maybe a bit too aggressive. Oh fuck, I know it made me too aggressive, but after we started fully sharing a rank, it just became easier. Instead of being angry with her all the time, it made me more drawn to her."

"Do you think that sharing a rank has bound you two up together? Like imprinting?"

Paul's eyes widened. "No, not a chance. She's not my imprint and telling her to fuck off if I think it's what needs to happen doesn't make me want to go slit my wrists in some sort of bizarre mind fuck thing. As far as being connected? Well... I just get her better now, I trust her. My wolf and her's understand each other and we're not in competition anymore. Neither of us is going to go up any further in rank unless Sam dies or retires, so why worry? We've settled. It's fine."

Jake sipped his coffee and watched Paul, then he dropped the bomb everyone was thinking and no one was saying. "Then you haven't imprinted... yet."

For a second Paul looked furious, but then it passed and he tilted his neck to the side to demonstrate to Jake that he wasn't testing his boundaries.

"It always comes back to that doesn't it? And before Seth and Ingrid happened I would have just stayed away from her. I know you all think I'm some sort of complete asshole who could give a shit less who he hurts, but it isn't true. Leah and I were part of the same group. I was damn good friends with her and Sam, I know how in love they were and I know that nothing short of the brain hijack that is imprinting could have made him leave her. I remember what she was like... and how none of us made it any better. I wouldn't have risked doing it to her a second time. I'm not that cruel. No matter what you all think of me."

Jake made a deep soothing sound in his chest and it helped diffuse the tension. "You've changed Paul, no one is going to deny that. You used to be an unrepentant dick. Well, you still are a dick, but you pick your battles now. You toned it down, you don't attack people for no reason anymore. You're right, you've settled. But thinking of you as the wolf we all have to watch is an old habit that is dying hard. If it's any consolation, it's an image that's dying hard for Leah too."

Then he caught Paul's eyes and held them. "But none of that takes away from the fact that you haven't imprinted and that none of us think Leah can go through being abandoned a second time and survive in any meaningful sort of way."

"Not every woman is Emily. Ingrid isn't." Paul blurted out.

And for a few minutes no one said anything. Imprinting was the sacred cow of the Quiluette, a bond so mythologized, so bound up in the storytelling traditions of their people that no one questioned it. And so for the most part, no one questioned the imprints themselves. It felt like being disloyal to their culture, their heritage, to do so.

"You're really going to go there?" Jake asked.

"Someone ought to. Look, Emily knew what she was doing when she decided to have Sam as her lover, as her mate. We can all pretend that she didn't, but she did. She knew he was engaged, she knew he was in love with Leah and she made her choices and now she has to live with them. But not every woman is Emily Young... or Dagmar Jarlsson either. Look at Ingrid! She decided that being Seth's mate was the wrong choice... and they're friends. That's all they are and you know as well as I do that she's not ever going to change her mind about that. So, if I imprint... I can tell whoever it is that I have a mate... and hopefully she'll make the same choices as Ingrid. Not every woman is going to make the same wrong choice Jake. I have to believe that they won't, that people are better than we want to give them credit for... I have to."

Jake placed the coffee cup on the table between them. Then he began to rotate it in a circle as he stared in at the liquid. "Did it ever cross yours or Leah's minds that maybe Emily made the choices she did because Sam tore half her face off? That maybe being with Sam is better than trying to find someone who will look past the fact that half her face is disfigured?"

Paul sighed. "Of course it has. And even though their situation sucks... that does pretty much sum up why I think she did it in the end. But what the hell is Dagmar's excuse? How can anyone defend that? If that had been Sam and Leah... would you all have been so hard up for Emily's muffins if Sam had left his wife and his own kids flat for her?"

"There is no way to defend the actions of Ingrid's step-mother and no, I don't think any of us would have been able to support Sam and Emily if their situation had been the same. As for Emily, maybe our sympathy for her has far less to do with the fact that she's Sam's imprint and far more to do with the fact that she's a living, breathing reminder of what we can do to the people around us. How soft they are, how vulnerable. We owe her Paul, if for nothing else than because she may be the only way to remind ourselves that we can and do... do wrong." Jake said.

"We live in a world where we are put up on a pedestal by the council. We can do no wrong in their eyes. That's a very corruptible way to live your life Paul. Emily is one of the only ways we have that we can measure how far we are from the gods the council likes to insist that we have become." He took a deep breath and then his voice took on a deeper tone, a more controlling one. "I won't stand in the way of you being with Leah, but if you imprint and the woman chooses you, you make a clean break. Don't you dare drag her through the mud again. And you _will_ stay the hell away from her till she figures out what she wants to do. And if that's retiring to get as far from us as she can, you will _not_ get in the way of that. Am I understood?"

Paul bowed his head. "Understood."

"Good. Now just one last thing. Why the hell are you so pissed, besides the fact that you're worried about her going into the situation without you?"

Paul held his alpha's gaze and let him see the insecure fear in his eyes. "She's going with _him. _Emily won't be there. I finally get her to take a chance on me and now she's going to be spending all her time away from me, away from our pack and with... _him_."

Jake didn't say a word. What could he have really said anyway?

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Ingrid was at 30,000 feet and was telling Fenris, G-d and anyone else who might be listening that she was oh so grateful that Magnus had decided to just charter a damn plane for them. Only one wolf from the La Push pack had flown before and the rest of them were _not_ happy. They were all a bit too young as wolves to be able to calm their more primal selves into realizing they were perfectly safe. Leah's eyes were closed and she had told everyone that she had no intention of opening them till they landed. Sam was clenching his armrests so hard that Ingrid was positive he was going to owe the crew new ones. Seth had finally stopped hyperventilating and was now attempting to take deep calming breaths.

Quil, on the other hand, was flipping through the book he had brought with him for his in-flight entertainment. He had flown with his grandfather twice before, both times had been to Washington D.C., to lobby for some improvement to the tribe. So flying didn't really bother him the way it appeared to bother everyone else. Eventually after the inflight meal of... well... he thought it was chicken, but since he had to chew it into submission just to swallow, he wasn't sure, he eventually closed his book and looked out the window.

He had seen Claire's parents before he had left. It had been... enlightening.

_The Penning's house was small but cozy. They had three daughters and while it was crowded, the house felt comfortable in the way that a place where everyone is loved and mostly only good things have happened can feel. It was a place that his wolf approved of for the raising of Claire. Hell the human side of Quil approved of it too._

_James and Maryanne Penning were sitting at the kitchen table and gestured for him to join them. As usual James Penning cut right to the heart of the matter._

"_We heard about your altercation with Emily. Thank you Quil... it means a lot to us that you were willing to stand up to pressure to... shape the bond in a way that benefits you, but not necessarily her."_

_Quil took a deep breath. "I won't say that there isn't a pull, there is. But... I want what's best for her and what's best for her is to be a little girl and do the things that little girls do. If some other people can't understand that, so be it."_

_He frowned and looked at both of them, a bit of a lost expression on his face. "I don't know why I imprinted on her. I wish that I hadn't, but I have and I can't undo it. So, the best I can do for her is to protect her interests... especially when they run counter to mine."_

_Maryanne reached out and took his hand. "Maybe, what you're doing, helping her to have her own life, is exactly what is best for you. Someday... you will make an excellent father. I just... I just..."_

_Quil gave her a sad smile and squeezed her hand. "You just hope that it's not with Claire. I get it."_

_James and Maryanne nodded and then Maryanne went upstairs to go to bed. James stayed in the kitchen with Quil and got the two of them beers._

"_Be straight with me Quil. If you don't survive this, what's the risk to my Claire?"_

_Quil took a long pull from the bottle, then another. "As far as we know, none. The stories all seem to say that it's the other way around. That we die if they do. Otherwise... look, James, we die a lot and if that meant we took out our imprints... all the lines would have died out a long time ago. If I get killed over there, Claire will be fine."_

_James sighed. "You're right you know. I don't want you with Claire, not now and not when she's 30 either. But you have always done right by this family Quil and I won't forget that. You could have taken her away, could have muscled in on our family and taken over our place with her. And you didn't."_

_Quil just said "And I'm not going to."_

_For an hour or two he and James talked hockey. Then James went inside to bed and Quil went home to pack. Was it wrong that he was happy to get away from his imprint for a while? What did that say about him? And did it really matter since it was his life, her life, he was dealing with?_

Quil kept staring out at the clouds as the plane passed over them. He refused to tell anyone, but he felt trapped. Trapped in his pack, trapped with a little girl who deserved so much more than to have this life forced down her throat when she was too young to say no. He never thought about it when phased and he never spoke of it. Not to his grandfather, not to Jake and Emby, or the trio as they were still called, not to anyone, not even Claire's parents for the most part. Though James and Maryanne seemed to be far more perceptive about him than even his own pack. They seemed to know, and last night... it was like they had given him permission to feel however he needed to feel about it. That they shared his doubts and his fears. He still didn't know what he was going to do, but at least he knew they had Claire's best interests in mind too. At least they seemed to know who he was, who he really was.

Eventually he went back to reading. They were going to be flying for quite a while, so the 'Collected Works of James Ellroy' should last him a while.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Leah still had her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her belly. She was sitting across from Sam and even though she was mostly past what had happened between them, she still often felt the urge to protect her soft spots around him. Like if she left herself open to Sam, he would hurt her again, so she covered her belly and refused to look at him. For now.

Sam noticed. He _always_ noticed. And as usual, it always made him feel like a failure of a man.

However, Leah wasn't thinking about him right now. For once her mind had decided to go to memories of Paul when trapped in close quarters with Sam... instead of memories of her ex-fiance.

_When they got back to her apartment Paul began pacing and tugging at the back of his hair. "I don't like it Lee. You're going someplace rotten with packs we don't know and vampires as far as the eye can see! You can't take Jake and... I can't go with you."_

_Leah walked over to him and bumped his hip with her own. "Hey, have a little faith in me. Everything will be okay. We're not going there to fight their winter war thing. We're just there to back Ingrid's play at the Gather. Mostly we'll sit, or whatever, near her and if any of us talk it'll be Sam."_

_Paul blew a forceful breath through his teeth and slid his arm around her waist. "Yeah... Sam. I'm not exactly thrilled about that either ya know."_

_She frowned at him. "Sam is in love with Emily, Paul. Holy Mother Fate isn't going to make him change his mind now. It's been nearly six years since it happened... it's over. If... if it hadn't ended the way it had, maybe I would be friends with Sam. But it didn't, and how it ended, why it ended... THAT'S what had me so wounded for so many years. That fact that it was actually over was something that I came to terms with faster than anything else that happened back then."_

_Paul's hand came up and began to play with the hair on the back of her head. Leah's hair was short now, like everyone else's. Personally he thought it did nothing to diminish her beauty. In fact it emphasized her eyes a little bit. But in a small and somewhat petty way, he hated that Sam would always be the only man who ever got to touch that long hair she had had. He knew it was petty, but he was too dominant of a wolf not to see it as a slight piece of competition for the female._

"_I know. And I know that things aren't going to change I just." He stopped and turned her to face him. "I'm not him Leah. I don't want you spending all this time with him and coming back thinking I'm going to be your next Sam Uley. Because if it happens, and it may never happen, I'm not going to do things the way he did. Your brother and Ingrid proved that there's more than one way to deal with an imprint."_

_Leah just smiled slyly at him. "I know you're not him Paul." _

_Then she reached up, tugged his head down to her and kissed him till she needed to break for air. "Who knows how long I'll be gone. I don't want to spend this whole night talking."_

_He chuckled a bit and it was a rich, deep sound. The sort of sound a confident man makes when he's sure of the outcome. "I didn't either."_

_The first time they had been together had been hard and fast. All skin and teeth, like their wolves had been battling to get in on the act. In fact half the noises they had made had been extremely wolfish and both of them had been left lying on the forest floor, panting and somewhat bruised after it was over. Their relationship was new, very new. True, Paul had been interested in her for some time and true, Leah had been pondering the notion of Paul for almost as long, but it was still so very new._

_This time Paul wanted to make it last, go slower. He wanted to touch every inch of her skin because he had to. Not out of some romantic notion, but because he didn't know when he would see Leah again, so he had to make this last and he needed to remember it. He knew she wasn't leaving for years, but as his claim on her was in it's infancy and frankly, very fragile, it was like he wanted to mingle her scent with his as best he could before he let her leave._

_He drew her to her room, her bed. A place that Sam had never gone. Leah had saved to buy a new bedroom set once she'd moved. She did not want to sleep in a bed that contained memories of being loved by a man who abandoned her. _

_This time their touches lingered, their moans were more drawn out. This time Paul played her body like he was trying to get her voice to a perfect pitch. This time Leah didn't try to leave her mark, she just wanted to press herself closer. This time they were paying more attention._

_When he finally got her to where she was soaked in her own wetness, where she she was no longer articulate in her cries, he eased slowly into her. His length practically twitching as he finally brought this exercise in sexual desperation to a close. His pace was, slower, more measured than it had been before. It was like he wanted to watch Leah in a slow burn rather than a conflagration._

_She arched up at him, wrapped her legs around his waist and her eyes stayed open for a long time. Watching each other, it was extremely intimate, and maybe almost a little too intense. Neither one was sure whose eyes closed first. Eventually Paul's head dropped to her neck, her hair, and when he came it was a loud and long groan into that neck. Leah pulled him into her a bit tighter, crying out the only coherent thing she had said for a while. His name._

_He pulled her down to him and tucked the thin blanket around them. Paul had never been the type to worry about bodily fluids or anything else when it came to sex._

"_You better come back to me in one piece."_

_She smiled up at him. "Never thought about doing anything else."_

Leah's eyes finally opened when the plane hit a bit of turbulence. She found Sam's eyes still on her and out of reflex, her arms tightened around her belly. His eyes winced, like the gesture hurt him a little bit.

Then his own hands gripped the armrests of his seat even tighter as the plane rocked again. She took a deep breath, took another one and then placed her hands on her legs, then on her own armrests. It was so very small a gesture, just the tiniest of olive branches. But Sam saw it for what it was and nodded and gave her a small smile, he stopped looking quite so stoic for just a moment.

When the plane lurched again and Seth let out a litany of swears in both English and Quiluette, Ingrid took mercy on all of them. "Hey, look, you guys must have a ton of questions... so why don't you ask me before you phase on a plane and create a whole new set of problems."

Seth nodded and he and Sam both tried to get their wits about them and look like competent men while Leah cleared her throat and turned to face Ingrid. Eventually it was Seth who spoke first.

"How many people will be there?" he asked.

"Each alpha of the 13 subservient packs will be there. They'll leave their betas guarding their territories, so the only betas there will be my brother and Sam. Along with the alphas, there will be whoever they bring with them, usually either the third or fourth ranked. Possibly their bolverk if she's better at this sort of thing. I represent the wolfblooded and the humans, normally I wouldn't represent the humans, that would be the bolverk of the Jarl Pack's job... but since this Gather has been convened about my step-mother and by default, my father as well... I automatically become the voice for _all _non-shifting members of the Fenrir, not just the wolfblooded. In addition, since Magnus called this Gather, every single member of our pack will be there as well. So... quite a lot of people." Ingrid replied.

"What can we expect to happen?" Sam asked next.

"In all honesty, I don't know. Dagmar's incompetence caused the death of a lot of innocent people and she has to pay for that. She's had years to learn her job and she's never really put in the effort. As the alphas arrive they'll be told the exact nature of her crimes. If she were a wolf or wolfblooded, she would either be exiled for the rest of her life or, if the crime is bad enough, executed."

"You execute people?" Quil sounded a bit shocked.

"Of course we do. We police our own and punish the crimes of our own as we see fit. The human justice system is completely ill equipped to deal with most of us and now that we live as secretly as we can, having human courts settle our disputes is out of the question. If a crime is judged to merit it, the punishment is death."

"But she's an imprint." said Sam.

"Exactly. And a fully human one at that. If I know my twin, and I do, he will suggest to the 13 that they demand that our father repudiate her, strip her of her bolverk status and exile her from any and all contact with the pack. If he refuses, then... after this show of utter incompetence, they'll demand he step down and retire. Either way, my father is being punished for allowing this to have happened."

"Okay, I understand why having him repudiate her is a punishment for him as well, but stepping down and retiring? Then they get to live happily ever after... don't they?" Seth was obviously slightly confused.

Ingrid ran a hand down her face. "Remember when I said that our people do things differently? Well, we don't retire. We fight for our people till we die. Once a wolf phases, it's a lifetime position in the pack. For wolfblooded we remain in the packs till we become too old to be of any help anymore. For wolves... it's till the day they die. To retire, unless there is some _major _extenuating circumstance is seen as dishonorable and a bit cowardly."

"That makes sense, or at least it does if you take into account your unique circumstances." Sam said.

"Really? Because it sounds depressing to me." replied Quil.

"Think about it." Leah took up the thread of Sam's thoughts. "Like I said when we first met Ingrid, we go dormant. We've never faced a constant threat to our tribe's safety and well being. The Fenrir do, every single year they spend about half of it fighting a war. All things being equal, having wolves retire whenever they want to would be catastrophic for them."

"All things being equal?" Quil asked.

"Deaths." Sam said. "They would, almost by default, have a much higher death rate than we do. They _can't _let people retire. That would leave them with numbers too small to fight the threat and the vampires would win."

"Also training." Leah continued. "Between deaths and new phases... they need a constant wolf presence to maintain stability in the pack. Not just for a military presence, but for training."

"You're both right." Ingrid said. "This is also a bit rare for a Gather. Alphas rarely, if ever, imprint, so I can't think of the last time a Gather was called in regards to a situation such as this."

Now it was Sam's turn to look confused. "What do you mean alphas don't imprint?"

"They just don't." Ingrid said. "Look, too many imprints in a pack is a tactical disaster. Because that's too many wolves who just can't fully get their heads in the game. The imprint splits a wolf's focus, and you all know that. Now, depending on the support system in play in a pack, that effect can be mitigated. But an imprinted alpha? I can't think of a time when that _didn't _go wrong in some way in our history. Alphas _have _to be able to view the big picture at all times. They have to do what's best for _everyone_ and not just cater to one person. They have to be able to make the hard choices and the harder sacrifices. An imprint completely gets in the way of that for an alpha. And so, including my father... I can only think of two other times in our entire recorded history that an alpha has imprinted and both of those times didn't go so well for our people either."

"I imprinted." Sam said. He sort of let it just drop right on the conversational pile as it were.

"I'm not going to even touch whether or not that's had a good effect on your pack with a ten foot pole. But I don't have to. You're not an alpha, so you imprinting isn't anywhere near as big of a deal." she replied.

"But I was an alpha when I imprinted on Emily."

"In a way, yes you were. You were alpha in that you were the most dominant wolf phased at the time, so all the other wolves responded to that. Betas can and do hold a pack together for years if an alpha isn't available to lead. But that doesn't make them an alpha, it makes them a damn good beta. If you were an alpha than you would still be an alpha. Once Jake was ready to take his position fully, you became the beta you were meant to be, that you always were. If you were an alpha, you would have held onto the pack you had and that would have been that. You were never an alpha, you were a beta doing his job."

Sam just stared at her. "Come again?"

"You're a beta, you were born to be a beta and from what I can tell, you're amazing at the job. It's no small thing to be a beta. Packs do not function without them. So... yeah. You were never an alpha, it's how it works, You either are an alpha or you're not. Once you are, you can never not be one."

Leah looked skeptical. "Then how did he stay in control of half the pack when we split for a year?"

"Your alpha, your real one, still wasn't ready. Not for the full responsibility. So Sam was needed to do what betas do best. Support their alpha. Sam was strong enough to hold onto what Jake couldn't at the time. Once Jake was fully ready, how long did it take Sam to fall into the beta role?"

"Nearly instantaneously." Sam said

"There you go. You have been a beta since the day you phased. Therefore you imprinting on Emily isn't some sort of odd abberation, it's normal."

Seth decided that this was verging into territory that Leah didn't need to be hearing. "This is great and all. But, not what we're flying to Oslo for. Ing, what happens if your father steps down and retires?"

"Magnus becomes alpha of the pack and Jarl of the Fenrir." she said.

"How do you know, what if he isn't an alpha?" Seth asked.

"He's the oldest son, the only son, my father's only shifting child. It's how our line works Seth, it's how it always works. Magnus will succeed Gunnar because... it's never _not _happened that way. Magnus will become Jarl, Dagonet will become beta. When Magnus' first son phases, he will bump Dagonet and become beta. No one knows why it happens like this. Just that it always has. If I was a wolf, I would be expected to become my brother's beta till his son was ready." She sounded like she was talking about the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. A total given that was never questioned.

"It can't always be that easy." Quil said.

"From the first pack to now, never once has the line been broken. Who becomes Jarl after the old one dies may be the only thing in our lives that's easy to figure out."

"What if he won't do either?" Sam's voice was very serious. "It's a worst case scenario, but what if he won't repudiate her, which I doubt he will because she's his _imprint_, and he also refuses to step down and allow Magnus to take over?"

Ingrid looked out the window for a few minutes. "Then it gets complicated. We're in war season, a battle for control in the lead pack would not be good right now. I can only imagine Freya's response to that."

"Freya?" Seth asked.

"Freya is the eldest Fenrir. She's so old that she has no idea what her actual age is. To give you some context, the hall where the Jarl pack resides was built 800 years ago. Freya was considered ancient even back then. She's alpha of the second pack and the only wolf more dominant than she is, is the Jarl."

"_She's_ an alpha?" Leah seemed to have forgotten her fear of flying and was leaning towards Ingrid looking both confused and excited. "I thought... I mean... can females actually _be _alphas?"

Sam, Seth and Quil looked equally shocked. They all knew now that Leah was not the sole she-wolf in the world, just one of a sisterhood that, while smaller then her male kin, was powerful and respected. But a female alpha? Ingrid had never mentioned that females were capable of that rank, she had merely said that depending on size most packs had 3 to 5 female wolves. Never once had the phrase 'female alpha' exited her lips.

Ingrid smiled at Leah, real affection on her face. "As far as we know, and we know a lot, Freya is the only one of her kind. The only female wolf alpha known to exist, to have ever existed. No other female that we know of has ever held that rank before or since. You used to think of yourself as a freak of nature Leah, you're not... but Freya may very well be."

The she-wolf sat back in her seat, her mind obviously taking in a great deal. In the space of so little time she had gone from being a freak, to one of a decently sized minority, to having one of her kind be an alpha. She would never be able to look at herself in the same, self-deprecating way again. And for all that knew Leah, that was a good thing.

Ingrid continued. "There's been tension between Freya and my father since he abandoned my mother. That tension got worse when Dagmar seemed to be utterly unable to take her place in the pack and in the nation. If the worst case comes to pass, she and Magnus will have a lot of very quick decisions to make. The entirety of the Fenrir will look to the two of them before they make up their own minds."

She got up and grabbed a soda from the snack tray and popped it open. "But hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully he'll just retire."

"Why was their tension when he accepted his imprint?" Sam asked. In his defense, he had never been taught that there was another way, that there could _ever_ be another way.

Seth looked at him like he was an idiot. "Oh, I don't know Sam, maybe because he kicked his wife and two kids out of their home? Because he abandoned his family? Fuck... let's just say it, because he acted like your father."

No one said a damn thing. Ingrid looked a bit sad, Sam looked both ashamed and angry, Seth looked a bit self righteous, Leah looked sad and angry and Quil looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was.

"Maybe we could keep Joshua Uley out of things Seth?" Quil was just trying to settle things down.

"No Quil, it needed to be said and if no one else was going to, I am." Seth's voice was harsh and rebuking.

Seth outranked Quil and the way he spoke to him was unlike how Seth normally treated the few wolves he outranked. It was meant to put Quil in his place. And it worked. Quil lowered his eyes and stopped talking. He was not going to challenge Seth's rank under normal circumstances and he was especially not going to do so at 30,000 feet in a small airplane.

Ingrid cleared her throat. "We do not consider the imprint bond to be a sacred tie between soulmates Sam. The Fenrir believe it to be purely biological, not magic. As such, how each imprinted wolf decides to pursue that bond is considered to be a purely individual decision. Not all of them become romantic in nature. My father was married with two children when he imprinted, it is not, and never has been, considered honorable to do what he did to us. Ever since he made that choice, there are many that follow him out of necessity rather than love. Dagmar herself has never been well liked for the choices she made and she may be the least popular bolverk we've ever had. This has been coming for a long time Sam... sixteen years to be precise."

Ingrid kept answering the questions that Leah, Seth and Quil had. But Sam was quiet, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, deep in thought. Leah and Ingrid weren't the only ones who had drawn the parallels between Gunner's imprint situation and his. Sam didn't talk about it, but he thought about it.

He had been engaged, he'd had to leave his fiance so that he could be with his imprint. It was what Emily wanted, what the council wanted, hell it had even been what Harry Clear water had wanted... and that part had always made Sam wonder. Why did Harry want him to break his own daughter's heart? Everyone thought that it was easy for him after he broke up with Leah... it wasn't. How do you ask the woman that you love, because deep down, underneath all of it he had still loved her, had still been in love with her, for the ring you gave her, back? How do you then turn around and offer it to her cousin and sister figure? No, it had not been easy and when he was completely honest with himself, if he could undo it all... he would. Seth was not the only person who compared himself with his father, Sam did too. And he was pretty sure that imprinting had made him more Joshua Uley's son than anything else ever had.

But like Leah, he had thought that what he had done was as bad as it could possibly have gotten. He never even thought about what it would have been like if he had imprinted on Emily after the wedding. What if Leah had been his wife? What if they had had children? What would everyone have said then? Would things be different now, or would he still be on a plane to Oslo, Norway with a Leah Clearwater who felt the need to make sure that even vulnerable parts of her body were covered around him? A Leah Clearwater who knew as certainly as she knew that her favorite color was green, that he would hurt her, that he could do _nothing_ but hurt her.

The only solace he got from thoughts like these was in his imprint. Whatever else the bond was, it was a pretty good medicant for the rigors of life. Depressed? Focus on the bond, it'll make you feel better. But in some ways, his bond was different, it was tinged with guilt, how could it not be? He had clawed through half of Emily's face. He hadn't meant to, he had just... everything had felt like it was collapsing in on him. He'd lost his scholarship, the career he had wanted, Leah, pretty much all the friends he had had, everything. And half of him was hanging on every word Emily said and the other half of him was screaming that he just needed OUT.

He could still remember that day, he could still remember thinking that he needed out, that he needed air, that everything was too close. What he couldn't remember was what, exactly, had made him phase. What he did remember was the blood on the floor and the bits of skin in his claws. What he also remembered was the overlay of his mother on the floor after his father had hit her so hard she went spinning and hit her head hard enough bleed on that same floor. After he did that there was nothing else he could or even would do. He had hurt her, he had hurt his imprint. He had abandoned the woman he loved and become something his mother, if she were still alive, would be ashamed of. He was his father's son. So he stayed, and he loved Emily with everything he had to give. What else was he supposed to do?

Unfortunately, that didn't mean that life in the Uley-Young household was easy.

"_I don't understand why Jake can't go!" Emily was pacing back in forth in the bedroom, her entire body telegraphing how upset she was._

"_Because the Fenrir would see it possibly as an act of war or aggression. There are four of us and 14 packs of them. It wouldn't go well." Sam was trying to make his voice as calm and gentle as he could. He hated to see Emily so worried or upset._

_She abruptly sat on the bed and threw her hands up in the air. "What about Paul? He's the third... or fourth, I can't keep track anymore. Why can't he do it? Why does it have to be YOU?"_

_Sam sat next to her and smiled. "Honey, have you met Paul? Can you honestly imagine him in any sort of situation where extreme tack and forethought are required... and him NOT screw it up?"_

"_Maybe I just don't care then. Maybe I'm selfish and think that you should stay here, stay here with me and worry about the rez and let Jake and Seth and Ingrid figure all this out. IT'S NOT OUR PROBLEM!"_

_She got back up and paced again._

_Sam sighed and went back to packing his suitcase. "It is our problem Emily. Ingrid is Seth's imprint and this involves her very deeply and that means it involves Seth... which makes it our problem. __Besides... would allies really be such a bad thing?"_

"_Ingrid isn't even pack, you and Jake talk about that all the time. And she doesn't even want to be Seth's imprint, she rejects the gift that she's given and you all just want to fall all over yourselves to help her? Well forgive me if I don't really care that much about what happens to her or her family or her pack. NOT when I have to send my fiance halfway around the WORLD for who knows how long!"_

_Sam turned her around and put his hands on her shoulders. "Ingrid may not be my favorite person in the world, but I still care what happens to her. She can be an abrasive know-it-all, but she's still a good person, she still tries as hard as she can to do the right thing. You know that and you know you don't mean what you just said."_

_Emily looked up at him. "Yes I do Sam, I meant every word, and I still don't want you to go. Don't go."_

_He dropped his hands and sighed again, then he closed the suitcase. "I have to go Emily, I don't have a choice. So please... I don't want my last conversation with you before I leave to be a fight. Please?"_

_She refused to turn around, not when he put his suitcase in Paul's truck and not when he went back upstairs to kiss her goodbye. She was angry at him and nothing he said was going to change that._

_Was it wrong of him, after all that he had done to her, to think that was unfair?_

"Hey... wake up! We're about to land."

Sam snapped his eyes open as Quil yelled over to him. He hadn't been asleep, had he really been thinking about all of that for that long?

Then the plane was landing and Ingrid and Quil suddenly had three, terrified and nearly hyperventilating shape shifters on their hands. It was not a fun landing, Not. At. All.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

"We're going back by boat! I am not doing that again!" Ingrid was wide eyed and grabbing her luggage at one of the carousels in Oslo Lufthavn airport.

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to..."

"What Leah, you really didn't mean to scream bloody murder for no reason?" Ingrid sounded stressed and pissed.

"Ingrid it's" Sam didn't get to finish.

"Sam whatever you are going to say is completely overshadowed by the fact that you ripped one of your armrests right the hell off your seat and accidentally threw it!" She yanked her suitcase off the lumbering carousel like it weighed nothing.

"Yeah... thanks for that by the way Sam." Quil glared at his beta through a swiftly healing black eye from when said armrest had slammed into his face.

Seth gave a quiet laugh and then shut the hell up when Ingrid glared at him. "What?"

"You were hyperventilating and praying... in TWO languages!" she nearly shrieked.

"We were NOT that bad!" he replied.

"YES! YOU WERE!" she and Quil yelled in unison.

As the five people made their way out of the baggage section of the airport a booming voice broke through the crowd.

"Ingrid! Over her! Kom her!"

Ingrid's face lit up and she immediately turned towards an enormous man and ran at him.

"I'm going to guess that's Magnus." Quil said.

"Yeah, that's him. She's missed him a lot." Seth said, smiling as he watched how happy his imprint was.

Magnus was... huge. He had a bit of facial scruff, and his hair was a bit longer then what the La Push wolves kept theirs. The man was built and looked like he was in his absolute prime of life. He also looked nearly overjoyed to see his twin sister.

He looked down at her and smiled as he swung her around in a circle. "Hei storesoster! Jeg savnet deg."

"Jeg ogsa." she replied.

Leah cocked her head and looked at her brother. "You have any idea what they just said?"

"Not a hot clue."

Ingrid tugged Magnus' head down so she could kiss his forehead. "Hey, I have some people to introduce you to."

Then she gestured to each Quiluette wolf, one at a time. "This is Samuel Uley, beta of the Quiluette pack, Leah Clearwater, the third and fourth ranked wolf of their pack... don't ask. This is Quil Atera Jr. their eighth ranked wolf."

Magnus nodded at each of them, then Ingrid gestured to Seth. "And this is Seth Clearwater, their seventh ranked wolf and the one who imprinted on me."

The blonde man looked over Seth like he was inspecting him, like he was trying to get his measure. "So you're the little man who helped make a lot of trouble."

Then he stepped closer to the younger man and loomed. Magnus was an intimidating presence, as large a man as Jacob and with the same undercurrent of intensity flowing right underneath his skin. Now they could understand what Ingrid was had said about the succession for Jarl. Magnus _obviously_ had alpha potential. He was a beta now, but that was only because his father was still actively phasing. It was clear to everyone that he would be an alpha.

Seth looked up at him, and grinned, letting out one of his trademark laughs. "Hey man... you can't help who you imprint on."

Magnus looked bored, snorted quietly. "Yeah." Then he turned back towards his sister, plainly giving Seth his back. He couldn't have dismissed Seth more if he had gone out and tried.

Leah looked pissed as hell and was about to say something, when Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Don't. If you go over there and rescue Seth you will not only humiliate him, you will make sure that Magnus' impression of him is set as a little boy who needs his elders to rescue him."

"But... he's treating him like he's beneath his notice." she protested.

"He's testing your brother. It's up to Seth whether he passes or not." Sam replied. He knew exactly what Magnus was doing because he felt the urge to do the same thing whenever Leah would start dating a new guy after they broke up.

Seth frowned as Ingrid and Magnus walked to the car, both of them talking rapid fire and making a lot of the same motions with their hands. It was very obvious how connected they were, that they could read each other like books. And, annoyingly enough, finish each others sentences. In a way it was like watching an older and whiter Brady and Collin... if one of them had had boobs.

"So why isn't Nils here?" Ingrid asked. "We flew into his city, he usually sends one of his pack to handle this stuff.

"You're still technically an exile, so he can't acknowledge you in their territory. Not without a political shitstorm falling on his head. And right now their pack, like everyone else, is knee deep in vampires. With Johann up in our territory for the Gather, Nils just can't risk the potential fallout right now."

And with that they walked outside... into the night. Which made all the La Push wolves start to blink a bit, because it was 3 in the afternoon.

Quil whistled. "You weren't kidding when you said this was a vampire's wet dream. It's like this _all_ winter?"

"It is." Magnus said. "And it's not much better through the autumn. The nights get longer and longer... until it's just night. But the other half of the year, the only vampires we see is the coven that lives here year round. So it's a trade off ultimately. No activity for half the year means that the other half is completely fucking insane."

As they walked to the van that was going to drive them the very long drive to Ingrid's pack's territory Sam, Leah, Seth and Quil began to feel something they had not felt for years now. Cold. They all jammed their hands into the winter coats that for the first time since phasing, they actually needed, stamping their feet to keep their toes warm.

"Holy shit it's cold!" said Leah.

"Welcome to the Eskimo lands of Europe Lee. And this isn't even as cold as it can get." Ingrid said with a grin.

Then they were in the van, the heat... when was the last time ANY of them had needed the heat on... was turned up and they were driving through Oslo. All of them looking out into the day that was a night and perhaps realizing just how far from home they truly were.

Magnus and Ingrid talked, mostly serious and, to their credit, always in English. They also seemed to be in a battle for the radio. Magnus liked classic rock and Ingrid seemed to like angry rage rock. Lovely. Sam often asked questions of Magnus and the beta seemed quite fascinated with the idea of urban packs. How they worked and how they hid.

"Urban packs actually have it a bit easier than the rural ones do." Magus said.

"How is that?" Sam asked. "They're surrounded by humans no matter where they look, how do they stay hidden?"

"Same way the vampires do. By using common sense, and by using the banality of humans to their advantage. Look... humans just plain don't believe in us, or vampires, or anything else but that which they learned was real in science class. Trust me, they can explain away an awful lot and anyone that tries to say that there is something more out there than what they realize, is just thought to be crazy. Unless one of us phases on some live news feed, humans are _never_ going to believe we exist. We've hid from them for too long now."

He broke off to glare at his sister. "I am not going to listen to Pantera right now. How the hell can you listen to that shit?"

She flicked him. "The same way you listen to CCR and pretend that no one else is looking at you like you're crazy."

He shook his head and turned the radio station back to classic rock. "Urban packs are a little smaller and put a greater emphasis on recon work and surgical strikes. You can't have a full fledged battle in the middle of the main freeway off ramp into Oslo, so you use guerrilla warfare tactics instead. But make no mistake, they take the most casualties every year."

"Why?" Quil asked.

"Look around. A vampire can flit in and out of the crowd 24 hours a day, the food is all around them. They can take a meal, dump the body and it'll just be one more person that was murdered. To a modern vampire, a city is a place to disappear in. The woods are places to get lost and starve in." he said.

"Rural packs get mostly nomads, covens on their way to the cities and large towns. We use different and more... classic warfare tactics to fight. We're usually fighting vamps in transit, the urban packs are fighting them when they settle and go to ground. Still though, it's the same damn war." He pulled onto the freeway and soon Oslo was being put in their rear view mirror.

"For rural packs, it's harder to maintain the secrecy. Most of the villages around us know who and what we are, our families know and if we have a shot in hell of having the Sami do what we require of them every year, they have to know too."

"What are the Sami?" asked Leah.

"Our version of you guys. They're nomadic reindeer herders. As more and more people took up agriculture and then living in the cities, the ones who refused to give up the old ways eventually became the Sami. They live fully traditional lives in the north. And the north is where the rural packs of both this country and Sweden are."

"Anyway, we tend to live communally, in the old halls and manors that were built way back in the day. It's... far less of a subtle lifestyle than the way the urban packs live. So we're always at a higher risk of getting caught. But once again, we'd have to get caught in a pretty major fashion before more than crazy kook or two would believe it in the first place."

As Magnus and Ingrid explained a bit more of how things worked with the Fenrir, people began to fall asleep and soon Seth was the only one left awake. At that point the twins switched to Norwegian and Seth continued to stare out the window. His thoughts were not comfortable.

For one of the first times he began to realize that he had been skating as the pack's happy go lucky guy for a long time. Not the lowest ranked, but defiantly not very dominant. He was the happy one, the easy going one... the one who just eased through life with a smile on his face and a joke on his tongue. And he was starting to realize that that just wasn't enough anymore.

These people were at war, his imprint had spent her whole life either fighting or being very close to fighting. His pack was always prepared to lay down their lives for their tribe. The Fenrir were already laying down their lives. It was a sobering realization that he had never really had to be responsible for much because, in a way, it seemed that his pack and his family seemed to prefer him as the easy going one. At the age of 20 Seth liked to think of himself as a man, and in fits and starts he was beginning to make his way away from boyhood, but he wasn't there yet and Magnus had seen it as soon as he had looked at him. Maybe Magnus had seen though him?

Who he was wasn't enough anymore, he needed to become more. His imprint needed him to become more. Whatever it was she needed from him, whatever it was that he could always feel tugging on him through the bond, he wasn't strong enough to provide for her yet. He needed to change... and maybe that meant not being so easy going and carefree anymore. He had started when he had called off her father, when he had argued with Jared when the man had questioned what kind of imprinted wolf he was. But it wasn't enough... he was going to need to keep going down this road further if he wanted to be what Ingrid needed.

She might not be his mate, but she was very quickly becoming the best friend he had ever had. He damn well _would_ become what she needed.

**AN: I had a huge chunk more, but realized that this was honestly where the chapter ended. So, I decided to be a good editor and cut it from this chapter, but will be including it in the following chapter. I'm sorry that I was not able to do the 2 chapters I wanted to in November. But as my final semester in college winds down and motherhood continues at it's breakneck pace, I was just not able to. In three weeks I will be finished with my schooling... and will no longer have my attention pulled in so many directions.**

**Before I leave you, I'd like to wish everyone a belated Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a good one. For my non US readers... I hope you had a wonderful November.**


	13. Chapter 13

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

**AN: **Okay, I'm horrible. I made promises and did not keep them. I swore 2 chapters a month and was made of utter fail on that one. The words would just not come to my fingers. Though I have graduated with my degrees and hectic holidays are over and the out of town guests are home. I will try. I have a new goal of finishing this plus the next story in the Fate's Middle Finger series that I have planned by the end of the year. It was my New Year's Resolution and I will try like hell to live up to it.

Anyway... ONTO THE STORY!

**Chapter Twelve:**

The problem with the darkness is that, if you're not careful, it can be all consuming. The problem with war is that if you fight it long enough, it changes you and not for the better. The problem with becoming immortal instead of being born that way is that you aren't prepared for it. No mortal is. One day you're... you, with your smaller concerns, food, shelter, living and dying. And then suddenly, the fire rolls through your limbs, your body snaps and reforms... and now, for as long as you can keep yourself that way, you're immortal. You'll live forever, if the war doesn't kill you. And that war is brutal and uncaring and as the decades roll by, friends and loved ones die all around you. Some bloody, some less so. And then the ones that _aren't _gifted with immortality start reaching the end of their lives. Old, grey, some wise, some less so. All withered and greeting death with a grace that belies their frailty. And you are left behind.

For a time it weighs on you, for a time you hold yourself apart, but eventually someone or something worms it's way into your heart, and you mate. You take a wife, you watch her belly grow round with your children. You rejoice when two are born. A girl with fire red hair and a boy with hair as yellow as the sun. And then you get it, you understand what true immortality really is. It's not living forever, it's not having your name sung out as the Jarl of the Fenrir. It's giving a piece of yourself to the next generation and seeing what they do with it.

But sometimes it just gets twisted. It goes sideways, and in the blink of an eye, in the turning of your head to glance at a sound, it all goes so wrong. And you forget. And someone else has the power to help you remember, but she chooses to have you remain forgetful. She chooses to keep you like a thief keeps ill gotten gold.

She makes a choice, and that choice has a thousand consequences, and each consequence yields another choice to make until finally you are here, waiting upon a Gather. Waiting upon your people to determine your fate through determining hers.

And the saddest part is, you no longer remember why you are here.

Dagonet couldn't help this litany that rang through his head. It's what he thought the Jarl would say if Gunnar was self aware enough think it anymore. The third ranked wolf was old, older than his Jarl, but he was no ancient. Even so, he had seen many things in his lifetime as a Fenrir and his alpha's imprinting was a somewhat singular event in those three centuries of life. To be sure, alpha imprintings were never good, and they usually had bad consequences for everyone around them, but still... Gunnar's was... unique. He had imprinted on a human. That, in and of itself was astounding. The only other two alphas to ever imprint in their nation's history had both imprinted on wolfblooded. He was a mated man, with children, so it had shocked the pack and the nation to it's core when he had repudiated Marit for Dagmar. Dagonet had been shocked along with the rest of them, but not for the same reasons. He knew how it went. An imprint had all the control, all the power and sometimes that level of power could be very corrupting. No, what had shocked him was Dagmar herself.

He would maintain to his dying day that there was something wrong with that woman.

A scent caught his attention and he smiled. Hilde and Karolina walked up the hall to where he stood, guarding the Jarl's door, keeping Dagmar under lock and key till the Gather was fully convened. His mate and his imprint. Dagonet knew very well that he was the antithesis to Gunnar's situation. He too had been a mated man when he had imprinted, he too had children, though his were all grown now. He too had utterly loved another woman, and like Gunnar's bond, his was too strong to ignore, the pull to Karolina too all encompassing to shove away. The difference had been Karolina herself; she had refused to break up his marriage to Hilde. He had explained everything to her, and gave her her options. They could become friends, never crossing the line to be anything more than that. Plenty of imprinted pairs had made that choice over the millenia so they would most certainly not be casting out into uncharted waters. Or she could enter into a three-mating with he and Hilde, a polyamorous arrangement that would bind the three of them as family. At no time did he ever offer up the option of leaving Hilde for her and at no time did Karolina ask it of him.

Dagonet's eyes softened as he watched Hilde's arm slide over Karolina's hips and pull the woman closer to her side. The two women were as attached to each other as they were to him. It had been easier for Karolina to quickly take to the three-mating, she was bisexual and found herself very attracted to Hilde, and the fact that Dagonet had long loved her made the she-wolf all the more worthy in her eyes. Hilde on the other hand could be more aptly described as Karolina-sexual and had taken longer to become as comfortable. Three-matings were not rare in their situation, but like all things, they took time to adapt to. Now though, Dagonet knew that if something happened to him, Hilde and Karolina would stay together. They were as mated to each other as they were to him. A true three-mating.

He had been there when Gunnar first phased after sending Marit and the twins away. Dagonet had seen it in his mind. The first questions Dagmar had asked when Gunnar had explained everything to her, was why she could not have him for herself? Why, if she was his imprint, did she need to share him? And with that, everything had changed. Everything rolling inexorably to this, to this Gather. The third ranked was firmly of the opinion that once the current bolverk had asked those questions that it could have ended up no other place than here. Than now.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Ingrid watched the markings pass by her as her brother drove the SUV through the snow. Within the hour she would be back home. The rock and snow under her feet, the old smells, the feeling of a true pack in her bones. Everything here was familiar to her, the biting crispness to the air, the way that if you breathed in too deeply the frigidness of it would burn your throat and lungs, the way the harshness of the landscape turned into beauty if one knew how to look at it. This was home, this was her sense of place, this was family. This was where she had fought a ceaseless war for so much of her life that she could barely remember anything else anymore. For her home was not where the heart was. Home was where one protected their soft spots, where one made sure that their allies were close and their enemies were watched at all times.

A hand reached over the back of the seat and clasped her shoulder. Seth. Her imprinted wolf. A man she was not mated to, but who nevertheless was coming here with her, who had agreed to stand beside her and be there while she faced her demons. In another life, if they were different people... he would have been a good match for her. But they were who and what they were. Seth may not have had her love, not the way his tribe wanted her to give it to him, but he had her unswerving loyalty. They were 'old sames' and he had shown her a great deal of his world in the last few months. Now it was her turn, only, what she had to show him was nowhere near as comforting as the things he had offered to her.

Seth had offered her peace, she had nothing to give but war. Seth had offered her as much acceptance as he could during those first weeks of the imprint, when the pull was nearly a pathology all it's own, she had had given him rejection and suspicion. He had been open with all the information he knew, she had hid everything, including the fact that she had told no one but her brother and her old packsister that the imprinting had even happened at all. Ingrid's behavior was understandable, but it was not ideal in her eyes. As she sat there with her wolf's hand on her shoulder she decided to change, to be as open with him as he was with her. They were friends now, things were better, but here, among the Fenrir, she committed to standing beside him, maybe not as his mate and lover... but as his family.

Even Seth could feel the new ease in their bond. He patted her back and settled down into his seat.

"We're pulling in now. You might want to wake everyone up." Magnus said, looking at Seth in the rear-view mirror.

"Who said we were still asleep?" Leah was the soul of sarcasm, as per the usual.

Next to her Sam just smiled and shook his head. Somethings never changed, maybe somethings never should.

When they went came to an old stone wall they all heard a chorus of wolf howls reverberate through the air. As they passed through it the howls intensified, and the pack could see quick snippets of huge four legged creatures darting through the snow by the vehicle. Amazingly, they were hard to see.

"They're arctic wolves, the darkest Fenrir is Paul's shade, a silvery grey. They may be the size of some sort of nightmare wolf, but in this environment, they're camouflaged." Ingrid had a soft smile on her face and her hand was splayed on the glass of her window. Her pack, her home, it settled in her bones and the La Push wolves could all see it.

Ingrid was still a Fenrir.

They passed small stone houses that lay inside the old rock wall, it looked like a village of sorts. An old village, but with odd modern things that were so out of place it was nearly comedy. SUV vehicles in driveways, satellite dishes attached to roofs, telephone poles. All surrounding houses that looked like they had been carved sometime in 1302. It was like the past and the present were in a marriage of convenience out here. Then they saw it, a huge Norse stone manor. The thing looked like it belonged on a movie set for Beowulf or something equally Viking. And it was _old, _there was no getting around the fact that the Fenrir had something the Quiliette did not. Full and complete access to all of their history, all of their stories, everything they had ever done was theirs to remember and take pride in. Including this stone behemoth.

"Wow... you grew up in, in that?" Quil asked, a bit awestruck. "It looks... old."

"800 years old actually. And yes, for the most part that is where I grew up. Home sweet, drafty home."

Magnus laughed. "She hates the place, complains about the wind all the time.

"All I'm saying is that some more central heating wouldn't exactly decrease the property value. That's it." Ingrid replied.

"Tell you what. When we get back, you can go tell Yvanne that you want more heating now that you're home."

"Oh... shut up." she muttered.

Magnus pulled to a stop, his booming laughter could be heard outside the SUV. Soon figures come out of the dark air, seemingly unconcerned with the snow around them.

Ingrid looked behind her. "Time to meet the rest of the family." Then she hopped out and was lost in a sea of people who were very obviously happy to welcome the Jarl's daughter home.

The four Quillette wolves got out and watched the reunion, Seth was grinning. For the first time he fully knew what it felt like when his imprint experienced true joy. Being here, with her twin, with her pack, that was joy for her and it reverberated through their, albeit weak, bond and he couldn't help but let happiness for her beam out of him.

Suddenly Leah gasped, stiffened and stared. There, right in front of her, welcoming Ingrid home, were the four she-wolves of her pack. Four females, four wolves who knew what pack life was like for a woman. It hit her like a lead pipe to the back of the head.

She was not alone.

She was not a freak.

She had... for the first time... sisters.

She cried. The wolf inside her nearly took over and a high pitched whine emanated from her chest.

Hilde, Astrid, Minka and Enni looked up, totally in tune with what sounded like a packsister in need.

"She's never met another she-wolf before. As far as her tribe knew, she was the first of her kind ever born." Ingrid explained for Leah. La Push's she-wolf meant a lot to her. She had tried to fill in as much as she could in the role of packsister, but she knew that Leah needed to see, needed to touch, other she-wolves.

Hilde nodded and walked over to Leah, tilted her head up and gently wiped away her tears. "Welcome, you are not alone."

Seth wrapped his arm around Ingrid's shoulder. "Whatever else happens here, whatever happens between us, good or bad... it's worth it. This makes it worth it. You have no idea what this has done for her. Thank you."

Ingrid smiled up at him. "You're welcome. Always."

Sam watched Leah as she sniffed each of the Fenrir females, as she reached out and touched each one of them, wonder on her face. While he stood there, he saw a bit of his old Lee-Lee peek out of Leah's hardened shell. Like Seth, he too felt that whatever ended up happening was worth it if Leah got back a piece of her own self worth. She might no longer have been his mate, she might no longer be the woman he shared his bed and his life with... but she would always be important to him. The _only _person more important than Leah to him was Emily, and right now, her happiness radiated out in such a blinding way from her that for just a moment... she even eclipsed Emily in his mind.

Magnus stood apart from the rest. "It's time for introductions to be made. But since our guests seem to be a bit... delicate for this cold, perhaps we should go inside?"

Seth turned, looked at the Fenrir beta and simply extended his left hand and then his middle finger.

"I think I might actually come to like you." Magnus said and then he turned to go inside.

Quil popped the hatchback to start getting their luggage. As he did so a small, for a wolf, female popped her arm into the back and grabbed a suitcase. "Hi. I'm Enni!"

Quil held out his hand, looking her over. She had slight, delicate features with large blue eyes. Her hair, like almost everyone else's here, was blonde and cut short. "Hey, I'm Quil Atera Jr."

As Enni took his hand, she sniffed him, then she smiled.

"Do I smell funny or something?" he asked.

"No, you smell just fine." Then Enni tossed the bag over her shoulder and walked towards the hall. "I'll take this to your room" she yelled out to him.

"How do you know it's mine?" he yelled back.

The blonde she-wolf laughed at him. "Because it smells like you silly."

Leah bumped his hip as Quil watched Enni bound up the hill with his suitcase. "Smooth, real smooth."

"What do you mean? I'm not trying to be... what are you talking about?"

She just rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Quil, whatever you say."

As everyone began to move inside, a large man with a scar going through one eye came up to them. He was bald and reeked of wolf and a certain calmness. It was slightly unique because wolves were known for many things, but a truly calm demeanor was not one of them. He walked over to Ingrid and much like her brother had done, wrapped his arms around her and spun her around, smiling broadly at her.

"Welcome home Little Fire!"

Ingrid turned to face the La Push wolves. "This is my father's former beta. Now he is the third ranked of the Jarl Pack. His name is Dagonet."

Dagonet nodded at each wolf as they were all introduced. Then he looked down at Ingrid again. "Your father wants to speak with you. In private. Now."

She stiffened, she had known that she would have to face him eventually, but like a 6 year old... she had hoped to put it off as long as possible. Apparently this was as long as possible.

"I guess I can't put it off any longer?"

Dagonet shook his head. "You knew you'd have to face him someday, even before all this... you and your brother had to know that eventually, this day would come. And you were always the more blunt of the two of you. This was always going to be you, not Magnus."

Ingrid set her shoulders. "Magnus, Dagonet, can you see my wolf and his packmates to their rooms please?" Then she turned to Seth. "I'll come and see you directly after meeting with my father. Through me you all have full rights to roam the area, explore the hall... however I would stay out of the great room until it's time to officially start the Gather."

Seth held onto her arm. "Do you need me to come with you to this? I will."

She knew he would, and she also knew that Seth would get himself in a great deal of trouble in a private meeting with her father. The kindest thing she could do for him was to reject his offer of support.

"Thank you Seth, but some mountains need to be a solo effort in the climb. Dagonet's right, this has been a long time coming and I was always the one who was going to have to do it."

Magnus stepped forward. "Alright, I'll show you to your rooms and we'll see if Yvanne can show you around. She runs this place and knows it better than anyone."

As the pack walked away Leah could be heard asking if Yvanne was yet another she-wolf. Magnus told her that no, she was a wolfblooded and his lover and prospective mate. Dagonet looked at Ingrid for another moment along with Seth, and then both males followed the rest of the group. For her part Ingrid watched them all till they were out of sight and then took a few deep breaths, calming herself and started the walk toward her father's quarters. It was time to beard the lion in his den.

She paused for a moment outside his door and listened, sniffed, her senses sharp enough to tell her that while Dagmar was in there, that she wasn't moving, most likely... asleep. How many times had she done this? How many times had she had to come in here and try to get her father to see past Dagmar? Too many and it had made her far older than her 22 years. Sometimes, what she was angriest the most about was not that her parents marriage broke up the way that it did, but that whatever sort of childhood she could have had was ruined by these two so fully, that it was like she was an adult by the age of ten. She wondered if the children of non-functional alcoholics felt the same way.

Then she gave a perfunctory knock on the door and opened it. She would not back down nor show fear. It was too late for that. She would own her choices and she could only hope that he would own his and Dagmar's, that he would own the consequences that they had brought.

Gunnar looked up at his daughter when she came in, part of him, a small part, loved her and her brother intensely. They were his children, he had been there when they were born, held Marit's hand, cut their umbilical cords and had taken joy in their development. The wolf inside him also had deeply loved his offspring, put as much effort into caring for them as he had his former mate. Not even imprinting could fully take away that connection, not all the way. Although it could and had lessened it. A larger part of him saw her as merely a rebellious member of his pack who would not knuckle down and who needed to made to submit or be cast out. A larger part of the inner wolf viewed her as becoming too dominant, her and her brother both. Neither could truly see anymore that how they felt about their children, their cubs... was _wrong._ That this was not the way a parent should think of their child.

"Father." Ingrid said. It was a simple greeting, for now she would remain reactive, let him show her how he intended to steer this conversation. Then she would engage him. For what should have been a simple talk between father and daughter... the effort and planning she did was more akin to negotiating with a hostile potential ally.

"I wondered if you would return and break your exile for this." Gunnar replied. There was no emotional reunion for them. The roles were cast, events were set in motion. The only thing left to do was to take the ride to it's end.

Ingrid walked closer and chose a seat across from him, a low coffee table between them. "The law is clear, the eldest wolfblooded child of a Jarl speaks for all wolfblooded in the event of a Gather. I guess you should be glad that I'm speaking for them instead of Freya's son Stephan. He hates you as much as his mother does."

Gunnar snorted. "Stephan is also 104 years old and not in good health. He nears the end of his life and is in no shape to travel in the winter. I don't think even his hatred could make him leave his mother's hall right now."

"Perhaps not, but he's not really what you want to talk to me about, is he?" She looked him in the face, but not the eyes. A delicate balancing act. To look fully away would denote submission and fear, to look him in the eyes and initiate a stare down with an alpha of her father's level of dominance would be an act of stupidity that not even at her most recklessly angry would she be able to make.

"Freya didn't always hate me you know. But you're right, I don't want to talk about the Eldest and her family, what's left of it anyway. You and I have far more important things to talk about now don't we? Starting with why you deliberately hid this imprint bond of yours. You _will_ explain yourself." he said.

She gave a half smile. "It would figure that you would want to talk about that first. I hid it because I wanted to control how it went. I knew you would either uphold the custom as regards my station in Fenrir life or you would order me to accept it. Either way, it would be you making a decision that would affect the rest of my life. I was half a world away, I decided to take that power for myself, regardless of the consequences. I won't apologize for that Father, I've accepted my punishment, I won't hide from my decision."

Gunnar paced angrily on the other side of the table. "If you were anyone else, the daughter of anyone else it would not matter. But you are rare! Do you have any idea how rare it is for a child of the Jarl to not phase? You are a marriage prize! You aren't a she-wolf, you won't go through heat, the rules are different for you than for anyone else, wolf or wolfblooded. And you broke them... FLAGRENTLY!"

"You may be Jarl, you may be king... but the rule is absurd. Because he's below third ranked he's not worthy of me? I may not want Seth as a mate, but believe me Father, he is an honorable and good person, he would be more than worthy of me if I wanted him in that way." She crossed her arms over her chest but otherwise stayed emotionally cold in the face of her father's anger. "No other person has laws and rules about who they take for a mate except a wolfblooded child of a Jarl, and even then, if I was your son you would ignore it. No... suddenly you care so much about this old custom because you want to use me someday as a bargaining chip and you are upset because I may not let you."

She stopped and sighed. "Seth is the least of your concerns right now Father. A Gather has been called because of your wife, your imprint. Perhaps you might want to focus a bit more of your attention on that issue rather than my disobedience?"

Her father stopped pacing and faced her fully. "I should never have let you become the bolverk. It's caused too many problems."

"Maybe not, but you did and she never learned to do the job. You coddled her, babied her and gave her whatever she wanted, when she wanted it. You directly helped create the person that she's become. And the person she's become is responsible for the death of an entire village. There's no easy way out of this one Father, not anymore." she replied.

"Your popularity with the pack, with the Nation has left her feeling incompetent and that has effected how she does everything, how she reacts to everything."

Ingrid leaned back in her chair. "This is not my fault Father. This is Dagmar's fault and you can try and obfuscate that all you want but it won't change the essential truth of what happened. The only person Dagmar has to blame for me and Mom being more popular with the Fenrir than her, is herself. Same with the Northcape disaster. That's her fault. And maybe yours as well. You hide in here too often with her and leave the running of things to your children."

Gunnar took a deep breath. "You used to blame me too. For everything."

"We are _not_ going to do this. Not about that. There are things that you and I will never talk about, there are things that Magnus and I went through up in that cabin that you gave up the right to know about. You gave us up, and you and your imprint can pretty that up any way that you like, but you handed me to my mother and walked out that door and left us. If you thought that I didn't remember, you're wrong. I remember everything... it's why I am the way I am."

She smiled at her father, but it wasn't friendly, it wasn't a baring of the teeth either, it was something... in between.

"Do you think that I don't know that if you had had children with Dagmar that you would have sent us to whatever pack would have taken us after our mother died? I've always known... and I've always still been loyal. So maybe that makes me the fool, no, not maybe, it does make me the fool. It's why I left, only the insane give their loyalty to one who could care less about it."

Her father looked at her, truly looked at her, and his eyes softened. For a moment Ingrid went so still that she nearly could have passed for a vampire. She stopped breathing, stopped blinking, if she could have, she would have stopped her heart. He hadn't looked at her like that since she was six years old.

"You loved cardinals, you loved anything that was red when you were little. You said that they matched your hair. Your brother, he was quieter than you, but stronger. I remember... sometimes." Gunnars voice was resonant, like it used to be. Like she remembered.

And then it was over. In a second's time he reverted back to that cold man she had known for the majority of her life. "This... this accident was not Dagmar's fault. She is human, she should not have to tend to these duties. No... they are your responsibility and you will return and take up the bolverk's place again. That will make all this go away. You _will _do this for me."

Then he turned around and walked back into the bedroom where Dagmar was, clearly dismissing her. It took a moment for Ingrid to regain her sense of calm. She stood straight and walked out the door, turned the corner in the hallway and then leaned against the cold stones in the wall. She, Magnus and Dagonet had been saying for years that Gunnar had been increasingly acting unstable. They had hidden it as best they could from everyone. So few in the Nation knew, many in the pack were unaware. But the journey was complete. The moment he stood at the Gather to defend his imprint... they would all know. Gunnar wasn't increasingly unstable, he was no longer in full control of his faculties.

How in the hell were they going to fix this?

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Sam watched Leah look out the window. "So... you and Paul huh?"

She looked back at him, or rather his reflection in the glass, the slight remove made it easier to talk to him. Like she was speaking to her memories of Sam, not the actual man himself. "Are we really going to do this now?"

"I'm not going to get in the way of whatever sort of relationship you carve out for yourself Leah. You deserve to be happy and... I'm not that cruel. It's just... for years you and Paul hated each other and now? It's just a bit shocking I guess. I always thought that if you chose anyone from the pack, it would be Embry."

Leah traced a small pattern on the windowpane, smiling a little bit. "I'd run roughshod over Embry and you know it. Maybe, back when I was hurting all the time it would have worked. But now? The woman I became is too dominant for him to start something with, if he had been with me since the beginning, it would be different. Paul on the other hand, he understands me in ways no one else does anymore, plus we're equals. Do you know how hard it is to find an equal when everyday, all of your interactions are determined, for the most part, by rank?"

Sam's drawl had a slight bit of sarcasm to it. "No, of course not, I wouldn't have any idea what you're talking about."

"Fair enough Sam, fair enough." Leah smiled at his reflection. "I hated you for a long time Sam. It consumed me. Now some of that, and how I took it out on people that weren't you and Emily, is my fault. I did and said things to other people that were wrong and I have to live with that. But... if you think I'm going to apologize to you and Emily, you're wrong. I've let it go, it's in the past where it belongs, but that's not the same as forgiving the two of you. I'm not sure I'm ever going to be the sort of person who is able to forgive something like that."

He took a deep breath and just looked at her face reflected back at him. "You seem to think that I expect it of you. I don't and I always thought is was unrealistic of the people, including Emily, who thought that you would or should. I want you to be happy Leah, content and if forgiving me personally helps you with that, than that's great for me. But since it's not about me, I can live with it if you don't. It won't make me happy but I'll be able to shut up and deal with it if your forgiveness never comes."

Her smile this time was more genuine, a rare thing between the two of them these days. "Thank you. You know... it helps to know I'm not alone. It makes me calmer, happier, more able to see things as they really are. I mean, it was already helping when Ingrid told me there were other she-wolves... but Sam... it's another thing to actually see them, touch them, memorize their scent. I've spent years feeling like I was being punished, that I was unworthy of happiness and this was my penance, all of it was my penance, for something terrible that I had done and just couldn't remember."

Sam's hand unconsciously rubbed over a spot on his chest and he tasted a bit of bile in his throat. Leah's honesty hurt. To be sure it hurt in a far different way then her mindless anger had, and he knew it was what he needed to hear and what she needed to say to him to get the rest of the way past what had happened between them. However, standing there and listening to Leah say that she had thought she was worthless for over 5 years, that she thought everything... him and Emily, phasing, Harry, all of it... was her being punished because she was somehow deficient and needed to pay for that lack hurt badly. He was glad she had her back turned to him, that she was talking to his reflection in a piece of window glass, that he was also looking at her face in the same manner. Because otherwise this would be too intimate, too much of everything for him to handle with any sort of dignity.

For a few moments they just looked at each other in the glass, the remove making it easier and harder all at the same time. No one said a word, what could they say? No one wanted to rehash the pain again, it was just too much and at least now, there was acknowledgment of both hurt... and healing. It was Leah who finally broke the silence.

"I'm tired of this. I can't do this thing we have between us anymore. The guilt, the anger, it's enough. It has to stop. You're with Emily and I'm with Paul. What we had was real Sam, no matter what imprinting makes you feel about it now... but it's over and it's time to move on. I'm happy with Paul, I don't know where it will lead, but I want to be with him. And you and Emily... regardless of whether or not I think it's genuine, you do and you're happy with her. It's time to stop this Sam. We both need to just walk away and stop... thinking about it anymore."

She turned around and for the first time since he had left her Leah looked at him openly. There was grief there for a life planned for and wanted but never lived. However there was also anticipation of a life that perhaps someone else can give her.

"Can we just start over?" she asked. "Can we just be packmates? Can we just forget we were ever anything else? I just want to start over."

Sam didn't say anything for a few moments and just looked at her. The last time they had been this honest with each other, without Leah yelling, had been before Emily. It was bittersweet that she was doing it know to tell him her own goodbye. Part of him didn't want to let go, deep down, in a place he shared with no one, he had held onto his love for Leah, wrapped it up as this piece of him that was still a choice. In a life where everything was decided for him and outside of his control, having this fractured piece of him that loved her was like having something that belonged only to him, to Samuel Uley. The other part just wanted Leah to stop hurting, he could accept _anything_ as long as she didn't hurt anymore. Emily may have been his mate and he loved her, but being the cause of Leah's pain made him want to rip at his own skin. It was time to let it go.

"I can do that. I know that what we had was real... and when I asked you to marry me, I meant it. But... imprinting changed that and it changed us. I'm not sure I want to forget what we had, but I think you're right. I think what's best is to move on. We were friends, then we were lovers, engaged... then enemies. We've never really been packmates, never really been partners. I'd... I'd like to be that now."

He didn't bring up Paul's name again. Sam wasn't sure if Leah was making the right decision in choosing another wolf. But at the same time he couldn't blame her. She could be honest with Paul about her life in ways she couldn't with a human. And after having spent time alone with the secret and no one to share it with, he understood the need for a mate one could just be honest with. However, he hadn't been kidding when he had yelled at Paul the day before they had left for putting Leah in the same position that Sam himself had put her. They hadn't exactly left on good terms.

Leah held out her hand and Sam took it. She wasn't his Lee-Lee anymore, she was her own, and who she chose to be with was no longer his concern. "This new confidence looks good on you Leah."

"Flirt." she laughed.

"Just honest, just honest." he said.

And for the first time in a long, long time Leah threw back her head and laughed. Her neck and belly utterly bared to him and he could tell that she wasn't even thinking about him hurting her. She was just enjoying laughing... and maybe... thinking about Paul.

Sam smiled softly... he'd missed her like this. Even if it hadn't been him that was able to make her happy again, he was strangely satisfied.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX **

Seth was pacing and he could tell that he was making the other wolves nervous. Sam, Leah and Quil were all getting themselves settled, he on the other hand was unable to pay much attention to his luggage and had just followed Magnus, Dagonet and Hilde after everyone had been shown to their rooms. When they had arrived in Magnus's rooms no one had seemed overly surprised to see him there with them.

"Want a drink?" Magnus was by a shelf with many bottles of liquor, pouring drinks for him and his packmates.

Seth nodded. "Sure, whatever you're having." The young wolf didn't drink often, but when he did, he had an affinity for things that weren't beer. His sister had once joked that some of Seth's drinking tastes wouldn't have been out of place in some bar from the roaring twenties.

Magnus handed him a heavy lowball glass and and when Seth drank the amber liquid inside he relished the way it burned down his throat and warmed his belly. Then he sat in one of the chairs and looked around. The beta's quarters were done in rich, dark colors, a sort of old fashioned masculinity was infused throughout the place. Dark leather furniture that showed years of wear, but looked the better for it. Dark rugs in burgundies, navy blues and hunter greens on the floors and heavy draperies on the walls. It was interesting because Magnus himself dressed in well worn, broken in jeans and long sleeved tee shirts with abstract designs on them. He didn't seem to match his own home.

Magnus saw Seth's appraisal and laughed. "It used to be his quarters." He pointed at Dagonet. "When he and Hilde took Karolina as their mate they needed a bigger place and I inherited their old one."

Seth looked at Dagonet. The large man with the scar seemed perfectly suited to these rooms. The clothes he wore all looked heavy and while not old fashioned, seemed like they were inspired by memories of styles no longer worn. Even the twisted gold jewelry he wore on his finger and wrists was heavy. His wife Hilde, while slighter than him, had a weight to her presence as well. She was one of very few people he had seen since he had arrived, with brown hair. She was long, her limbs were long and leanly muscled like Leah's and while no one in their right mind would ever mistake either female for a man, there was no doubt that they were powerful. She too seemed like she would be right at home here.

Seth gave a one sided smirk. "I'm not even going ask about the whole threesome mate thing you just brought up. I think I can take only so much culture shock in one day." Then he leaned back fully in his chair and took another sip from his glass. "Is she going be alright in there, with him?"

"She'll be fine. He won't hurt her, and he won't allow anyone else to either. No matter how angry he is, no wolf hurts their child. We're just hardwired not to do things like that. We may get angry, we may have all sorts of issues, but even when one of us loses it, we never physically harm our children." Hilde's hand brushed over a large locket at her throat. "We can mess up a lot of other people we care about, but I've never heard of a wolf turning claw or hand to his or her child. And I'm almost 300 years old."

Seth blinked at her and looked at Magnus. "Are all your women ancient?"

The beta nearly choked on his drink. "You heard about Freya then? No Seth, not all our women are ancient. Astrid's only been a wolf for three years, Minka for ten."

Dagonet casually slung an arm around his mate. "I'm a bit older than Hilde, by what... a decade?

"No one in our pack is that old. Not even close. Sam and Leah are the oldest and... this is really not important right now." Seth put his glass between his thighs and looked at the other three. "Why did he want to talk to her alone?"

Magnus looked into his own glass. "Me and my father had an easier time of it. Don't get me wrong, I don't like him anymore than she does, but I have to, as the Chinese say, swallow my bitterness. I have no choice, he's always so nose deep in his imprint that the pack needs to look to me for stability. I can't afford too much open conflict with him. Ingrid, even when she was the bolverk, has that luxury."

Dagonet laughed. "I think she also enjoys it too Magnus. Not everything your twin does is suffused with the fires of revolution. Sometimes she just thumbs her nose at him because she can. And by Fenris it's entertaining."

"So, you have to play the game for the most part and she doesn't, am I right?"

Ingrid's brother nodded at Seth. "Pretty much. The bolverk gets to use brutal honesty whenever and where ever she chooses to, and never let it be said that my darling sister never ran with that to the inth degree while she was in the position."

"Sounds like her." Seth smirked. "But that still doesn't answer why she had to go there alone."

Magnus finished his drink and set it down. "Mostly because she _always _fights back. Even when she's going to lose. Even when the person she's butting heads against is more dominant than her by a long shot, she always fights back. I'm not sure that Ingrid knows how to back down if she thinks she's fighting the good fight. And our father learned a long time ago that if he dealt with her in public, she'd get people on her side, so he stopped. He hasn't chastised her in public since she was 16 years old."

The door opened and Yvanne swept into the room. Magnus smiled up at her and looped his arm around her waist and pulled her down into his lap. "You're done for the day right? No disasters, no leaky pipes or crumbling walls to deal with?"

Her eyes lit up. "Nope. Our guests are settled in and Enni volunteered to show them around the hall. I think she likes the way the one named after a feather smells."

Seth watched the two of them. There was a certain ease about the way that they touched each other that was much like Dagonet and Hilde, but unlike Dagonet, Magnus seemed to want to make sure that Yvanne carried a bit of his scent with her in a way that spoke of a certain newness. His hand drew a pattern on her thigh and every now and then his thumb traced over the side of her neck. Seth thought that Magnus could call Yvanne his prospective mate all he wanted, but the man was lying to himself. The older wolfblooded was already his mate, and from the looks everyone in the room was giving him, they all knew it too.

"You staying here tonight?" Magnus asked her.

Yavanne just nodded, gave him a quick kiss as the beta pulled on one of her grey hairs, but left it in place. Then she got up to rummage around for food in his cabinets.

Before much more could be said Ingrid came into the room. "So anyone else noticed that Daddy Dearest... hi Seth."

She seemed a little bit surprised to find him here, but only a little. He wasn't exactly hiding the need he felt to help her. What was surprising was that Magnus had allowed it. They all were far too much in the practice of keeping pack political matters to a very small and tight knit group. For all that Seth was imprinted on Ingrid, he wasn't part of that group. He wasn't Fenrir, just as she wasn't La Push.

Yvanne handed her mate's sister a drink. "He's loosened up a bit lately."

She took it, looked her brother right in the eyes and smirked. "I think it might be the sex he's been getting regularly. I hear it does wonders."

Magnus nearly choked. "You do this shit on purpose. Admit it."

Yvanne merely smiled wisely at the beta, much like Hilde was smiling wisely at Dagonet.

"You bet your ass I do. I get so few selfish pleasures in life. Making you uncomfortable once a week is one of my most treasured ones."

He merely threw a pillow in her face.

Seth cleared his throat. "Not that this isn't entertaining, because believe me, it is. But don't we have bigger issues to deal with. Like why you smell all sorts of weird right now Ingrid."

Ingrid took her drink and sat on the sofa next to Seth and across from Magnus. "Father's out of his gourd. We talked, he wanted to make a big deal of me keeping Seth a secret, and then... it's like the fact that the whole Northcape settlement is dead hasn't even penetrated. He actually told me that I would stay, take back up the reins of the bolverk and everyone would forget what had happened."

"Is he out of his mind?" Yvanne asked, incredulity lacing her voice.

Hilde's hand clenched on her glass so hard it nearly shattered in her grip. "He cannot just sweep that many deaths under the rug and pretend they never happened. I was there... I had to put the bodies of _children_ on the pyre! I will never forgive Dagmar for this, not even if I live to be as old as Freya. And if the Jarl seeks to let this go unpunished... I will never forgive him either. I've spent my life in this pack Magnus, but I'll give my allegiance to another alpha if it comes to that."

Dagonet rubbed the back of Hilde's neck soothingly. Then he too looked at his beta. "Where Hilde goes, Karolina and I go. Not that either of us would want to stay if this Gather ends with Dagmar still the pampered princess she insists Gunnar treat her as."

The old and massive wolf leaned towards the man who he had trained since he was a boy. "You will have decisions to make in the coming days Magnus, both you and Ingrid. If the worst comes to pass, and you make the right decisions, you'll have allies."

Then the two old wolves got up to leave. Karolina was getting off her shift in the village clinic and this time was sacred family time for the three of them. Both expressed their happiness at seeing Ingrid again and then they were gone.

"So you really think he's unstable?" Seth asked.

"We know he is. We've known for a long time." Ingrid rubbed her eyes. "The more mean spirited Dagmar would act, the less stable our father would act in return. And now, it's weird. There was this moment, it was just a moment, but... he _looked_ at me. And it was like it was him again, like he used to be. He talked about us like no time had passed. Like it hadn't all gone to crap." She downed her drink in two gulps. "And then it was over and he was the jerk he's been for pretty much our whole damn lives."

Seth reached out and took Ingrid's hand. "I'm sorry. In a way, I'm luckier than you."

"And how exactly is that?" she asked.

"My father is dead. There's no guessing, no hoping to catch glimpses of a man who's soul is gone but who's body remains. Harry Clearwater is gone and I have a headstone I can go to and mourn him at when the need comes to me. You two have watched your father die in degrees, piece by piece and his body shows no signs of stopping. So, in a way, I'm the lucky one out of the three of us."

Then he looked over at Magnus. "If everyone knows how nuts he's been acting, won't this be pretty easy?"

"We kept it a secret. I was too young to take over. I wasn't ready. No one would accept Dagonet taking over... and... as important as he's been to the Nation. He's not an alpha, he would never have been able to hold the pack together or if he could have, the Nation itself would have imploded. Freya would have had no choice but to take the reins. She would have challenged my father to a fight for the title of Jarl, and in the shape he's been in the last several years, she'd probably have won."

Ingrid snorted. "You know she would have won. She's too old and too good at killing things to lose to our father in the condition he's in now."

"So how old is she?" Seth asked. "I mean you all go on and on about how ancient she is, the Eldest, like it's a title or something."

"In every way that counts, it is a title." Magnus replied. "And it affords her more respect than anyone save for the Jarl."

"Still though, how old is she?"

Ingrid cleared her throat and looked at Yavanne. "You want to do the honors of screwing with his world view?"

The older woman faced Seth. "Everyone in this room is homo-sapiens, or at least started out that way before phasing. Freya is homo-erectus. She was part of the very first group of wolves that ever phased in Scandinavia and as far as she can remember, she was the second wolf to ever phase here period."

Seth didn't really have much he could say to that. So he blinked instead. Then he looked at his empty low-ball glass and held it out. "I think I need another drink. A stiff one."

Ingrid laughed and handed him a bottle of very nice scotch. "I say we just share the bottle. Call it fortifying ourselves for what's to come. By the day after tomorrow, everyone is going to know that I, my brother and Dagonet have been hiding the fact that the Jarl is incompetent to lead for least 4 years. I think this is the _perfect_ moment for a stiff drink... or five."

The remainder of the night was spent getting Seth up to speed on the Jarl's family dynamics. For the rest of his life, Seth would never think of his family as dysfunctional again. The Clearwaters were bastions of normalcy and sanity in comparison to the current state of the Jarl's family. He felt lucky, but at the same time sad. Ingrid and Magnus had dealt with far too much, far too early and it had left it's mark on both of them. One was denying that he had a mate and the other was trying her damnedest to make war on the world. And that was only their lighter issues.

When Seth and Ingrid left Magnus' rooms, still holding onto the bottle and taking swigs from it, Ingrid led Seth to her room.

"I'm pretty sure I have my own room to go to Ing." Seth said.

"Actually, since I'm your imprint, you automatically stay with me until I officially reject the mating version of the imprint. So, how do the Spanish say it? Mi casa, su casa?" Then she opened her door, walked into the bedroom and pointed at her bed.

"Here's how this is going to work Seth. You won't fit lying down on on my couch, so you get to share a bed with me. My last boyfriend told me I talk in my sleep."

Seth was busy responding to the first part of what she had said. "You have a an official way of telling an imprint 'Let's just be friends?' are you serious?"

"Seth, we're the Fenrir, we're in _love_ with our traditions and history and blah, blah, blah. We probably have an official way of throwing out used toilet paper."

He shook his head. "You have a unique way with analogies, you know that."

Ingrid grabbed some flannel pj's and walked toward the bathroom to change. "I hope you brought something to wear to sleep in. It get's _cold_ during true night here."

Then she went to the bathroom and came out looking... cute. She was in blue flannel pj's with sheep on them for shit's sake. It was adorable, especially with her red curls bouncing into her eyes. However, Seth had enough experience with her by now to not actually tell her that. He just nodded, and went to bed on the side she said wasn't her's in sweatpants and a tee shirt.

For a little while they just lay there, not much to say, just thinking. Then he turned on his side and looked at her. "You're important."

Ingrid gave him a weird look. "What do you mean Seth?"

"If you had been a wolf, you'd be ranked high, Magnus told me how old you were when you became your father's bolverk. You were just a kid. You've been helping to run a pack and a nation since you were 15 years old. You're important and I get it now." he replied.

"What are you talking about, what do you get?"

"I get that you've been forced to do all the things I've been putting off. I could be.. more dominant, but I never push it. Never really saw the need, I liked being me. But... being this means I have a lot of responsibility and being little ole' me isn't good enough." he mused.

"You give yourself too little credit Seth. But if you really feel that you're shirking your duties, then... change."

"I'm trying." he said. "Old me wouldn't have pushed my way into Magnus' private party, but... I needed to know what was going on, so... I went."

After that they were quiet again and after more time passed, they fell asleep.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

The following day was spent with Magnus, Ingrid and Enni sparring as much time as they could to familiarize everyone with the protocal they were to observe. Sam and Magnus spent a lot of time going over La Push's political stake in all of this. Leah joined that discussion often and Quil seemed to be fascinated with all the things Enni could make a computer do for her.

Ingrid told them the name of every alpha and the person they brought with them for the Gather, showed everyone pictures. Eventually they were all as prepared as they were ever going to be.

Magnus looked at Sam. "Get some sleep, people will be interested in what you have to say, you're a new presence on the board. They're going to want to see how well you perform."

Sam took a deep breath. "No pressure there."

Then he took the files Magnus had given him and walked towards his room, Leah followed and they discussed their options till they separated for the night at their door. Enni walked Quil back to his room and their laughter could be heard echoing down the hall long after they vanished.

Seth looked at Ingrid. "It's all going to go down tomorrow. You ready for this?"

She looked him dead in the eye. "Not really... but I'm not going to let anyone else know that."

Magnus, Yavanne and Seth looked at each other... yep... tomorrow was going to be an interesting day indeed.

**AN: **Once again, I suck at not getting this out, my only excuse is that I have 2 children under the age of 4 to take care of and late at night is the only time I really have to write. That and some angsty moral issues I've been having with Twilight was killing my muse. But... I'm in this for the long haul. No matter how long it takes, Shrapnel and it sequels WILL be completed. Period.


	14. Chapter 14

This is a work of speculative fanfiction. No profit was made nor was intended to be made. All rights to Twilight and it's sequels and prequels belong to Stephanie Meyer and Little Brown Publishing company. I make no claim to ownership on any of those rights nor to any intellectual property of Stephanie Meyer.

**AN: **So... it takes me a long time to update. There's no getting around it and I've given up hoping to change it. This is the first part of a series that I had hoped to have half done by now. I'm going to write it all, but yes, it's going to take me a long while to finish it.

**Chapter Thirteen: **

When Seth woke up the next morning, he was greeted, once again, by an imprint who had undergone some appearance transformation. Ingrid was a bit of a tomboy; jeans, Doc Marten boots, various plain fitted tee shirts and flannels seemed to comprise the vast bulk of her wardrobe. So the very formal, dressed in white, slightly off kilter CEO look was a new one for the young man to see. She was sitting in a chair facing him in the bed, white suit pants, low white heels and a fitted, boat-necked, white shirt on. Her hair was wrapped up in a tight bun, silver earrings on and was that... makeup? The only thing that ruined the effect of her about to talk mergers and acquisitions was the fact that her left shoulder was bare, it was like the material had been cut and re sewn so that her pack tattoo showed.

"Well that's a new look." he said. "Why the effort to show the tattoo?"

"Gather's are somewhat formal, so don't expect to see any ripped jeans or sloppy shirts today. As for the white, it's my pack's color, the royal white and everyone will either be baring their tattoo or wearing a pendant in the shape of it. The Fenrir nation is large and not everyone knows everyone else by sight or smell, but everyone knows the 14 pack insignias, it's one of the first things that new phases have to memorize." she replied.

"So dress nice, got it. We do clean up well you know."

"I'm sure you do. Forgive me if I'm a bit preoccupied. There's no telling how long the Gather will go. It could be one day or it can last for over a week. I'm just trying to figure out all the angles in advance. Not that that's really possible, but I'm still putting in the effort." she said. Then she stretched and pointed to the shower. "Go get ready, because the show is about to being in an hour and a half."

Seth got in the shower and then grabbed his clothes. He wasn't going to be as dressed up as Ingrid, but he would look nice, far better than his normal style. When he got out, he actually did his hair for once and got dressed in new jeans and a brown button down shirt, his shoes were even polished. All in all, like he had claimed, he cleaned up well.

When he returned he saw that Ingrid hadn't moved from her seat in the chair and was still staring at the same spot on the floor in front of her.

"So mini purple elephants are crawling out of your nose."

"That's nice Seth. Are you ready yet?" she replied.

Seth just laughed. "Yeah, I'm ready, lets go pick up the rest of my pack. We're going to be seated near your pack correct?"

Ingrid rubbed her eyebrows. "Yeah. Actually you'll be behind us. Sam as your beta will get to sit in the group. For this part of the Gather, rank and pack place matters a great deal. It will loosen up as time moves on, but the introductions, are as formal as can be. So just... follow our lead and everything should go well. You and your pack paid attention, you'll be fine. I have... faith... in you."

Seth smiled, but it wasn't his normal full toothed grin nor the soft smile he often gave his imprint. It was the smile of someone who has realized that they can stop trying to prove themselves to someone. His face was laced with relief. Then he merely picked up one of the manilla folders on the desk and followed her out the door to Quil's room.

On the way there they were met by Sam and Leah, who were dressed, rather unfortunately, in what seemed to be some bizarre couples matching clothes. Long sleeved, fitted black shirts, jeans, new black shoes. Seth said nothing, he just cocked an eyebrow at them and got the middle finger from Sam and his sister sticking her tongue out at him. Ingrid may have muttered "Cute." and Leah may have smacked her on the rear, but Seth chose to not notice that fact. Besides, they were rounding the corner to Quil's room and Quil's room had just disgorged a rather shocking surprise.

Enni walked out the door, with mused up hair, the clothes she had worn yesterday, and a happy, 'I just got laid and rather well too' smile on her face. She wrinkled her nose at the group, who were blinking at her owlishly and then vanished down the hallway. Everyone just sort of looked at each other.

"Sooooo..." Ingrid drawled. "I could get into this, but I won't. You kids have fun now and I'm going to head to the great hall. Meet you there. Don't be late. See ya!"

With that she was gone and the three La Push wolves were staring at the door to Quil's room. This was very much not the time, but still, sometimes, somethings must be dealt with whether anyone is ready to or not. So Sam lead the way into their packbrother's room and interrupted Quil buttoning up his green shirt.

"So are we ready to go?" Quil asked, nonplussed.

Sam just stared at him. "You had sex with her! With Enni! How?"

"Well Sam." Quil said sarcasticly. "I thought you learned all this in health class, but you see when a male gets aroused he has an erection. If all goes according to plan the female he's with is also aroused and is wet. Tab A meets slot B and things generally work their way towards a climax."

Sam opened his mouth to say something and then held up his hand to signal that no one had better talk, then he rubbed his eyes and let out a long suffering sigh. "You're imprinted Quil."

"Trust me Sam, no one is more aware of that than I am."

Sam rubbed his eyes harder. "So, how in the name of FUCK, were you able to complete the act with Enni? And what gave you the right to do it in the first place?"

To say that Quil got angry was an understatement of almost divine proportions. He looked _livid. _"Sam, you don't get to tell me how to deal with my imprint. She is SEVEN GODDAMN YEARS OLD! I am tired of trying to figure out what that says about me somewhere in the back of my mind, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the last five fucking years. I am tired of living like a monk waiting for a LITTLE GIRL to grow up so that I can have sex with her! Doesn't that notion make you uncomfortable or is it all okay just because I imprinted on her? Because honestly, if anyone ELSE uttered those words, you'd deliver them to Charlie Swan on a plate, head still being attached at the neck optional, and you know it!"

"I'm not going by the rules on this one. Her own PARENTS aren't comfortable with this and have flat out told me they don't want their daughter romantically involved with me, EVER! Look, you may have had no choice but to go along with things when it happened to you. But we know more now and it doesn't have to be the way the council swears up and down that it is. If you and Jared want to be with Emily and Kim, fine. More happiness to you. But I don't want to be with Claire, not because she turns me into a glorified babysitter, but because it's WRONG Sam! Seth and Ingrid proved there's more than one way to be imprinted and I'm going to follow their lead. I'm not living like some sick fuck, training some CHILD to be my mate when she gets old enough! I just won't."

Sam took a deep breath, then he got right in Quil's face and seethed at him. "And tell me, genius, what the hell are you going to do, when Claire is old enough to make a choice, and chooses you? Oh but wait, now you're married, damn... maybe you have kids, just like Gunnar. You willing to take the chance on doing to them, what he did to Marit, Ingrid and Magnus? What I did to Leah? Because, let me tell you something, living with yourself afterward can be pretty goddamned difficult!"

Leah watched Sam with a less jaundiced eye. She had always been so upset with him for urging Jared and Quil to become close to their imprints. It had hurt, like he had forgotten everything that they had once shared, that Emily was the only thing he knew anymore and he wanted his packbrothers to feel that same joy. It wasn't until the other day that she found out that he had never forgotten any of it. So now she realized what it was all about. Sam, in a portion of his brain, hated himself. The man was in the grips of some pretty deep self loathing and a pile of guilt he really couldn't see around. It wasn't about tradition, it wasn't about happiness, it was about regret. It had _always_ been about regret. Deep down, Sam just didn't want anyone else to have to do to the woman that they loved what he had had to do to her. This was Sam protecting his pack the only way he knew how to. She couldn't really blame him either. Now that she was happy with Paul, she could think back on the day he left her and see it better. Sam had looked devastated that day, like a part of him was dying, as he told her that he no longer loved her and no longer wanted to marry her. The day she had found out about Emily, he had looked at her, and he had seemed... ashamed. When she first phased, on that night, he had tried so hard to not let her see Emily through his eyes, like he wanted to protect her from at least that. Looking back on it all now, she could see Sam and his actions so clearly. He had been a man in an impossible situation and had no one but a group of middle aged people who couldn't possibly, truly, understand what he was going through. Everything he had done since then, in regards to imprinting, was to keep history from repeating itself.

Quil closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "I have to try Sam. I'd rather feed myself to a vampire then let myself become that kind of man. Claire is a child, if she grows up seeing me with someone else, someone I love, someone I have a family with, I think it's a good chance it will never occur to her to try and choose me, to break up a happy home. I've tried everything I could think of to break it and I can't. So maybe... maybe I can shape it? Make it into something different, something else. If Seth and Ingrid can just be very good friends, maybe Claire and I can never be more than a sort of niece and uncle."

Sam rubbed over his entire face. "I can't, and won't, force you down any particular path where it concerns your imprint. That choice is your's and your's alone to make. I hope you can do it, I really do. But so help me Quil, if it all goes bad, you can't say that you weren't warned and don't expect me to cushion the blow for you."

"So you'll tell Emily to get off my back too?" Quil asked.

Sam blinked and then frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Dude, she's always getting on my back, Seth's too, for not paying our imprints their proper due. It's like she takes it as a personal affront that neither of us are interested in being romantically involved with Claire or Ingrid. She also gets pissed that Ingrid wants even less to be romantic with Seth."

Seth nodded in agreement when Sam looked at him questioningly.

"Why the hell would Emily care what you two do? That makes no sense, it doesn't really concern her."

Quil shrugged. "When I asked her where she got off saying anything about it, she said she had the right to as the beta's imprint."

Here Seth broke in. "Sam, Emily has always thought and acted like she was big man on campus because of your rank. I mean, we sort of rank them in our minds based off of our own ranks and they know that, but Emily always seemed to really define herself by it."

The beta sighed and rubbed his eyes again. "I'll talk to her when we get back. She really shouldn't needle you two about your imprints. It's not her place. I... apologize on her behalf."

Leah cleared her throat. "Sam, if Emily is really measuring her entire life around being the highest ranked imprint, regardless of how informal that ranking may be, you need to address that. What will she do when Jake takes a mate? That woman will outrank her, hell if Ingrid ever actually joins our pack, you and I both know she'll _actually_ be ranked. And once again, Emily will find herself not being top dog among the imprints. It's not healthy for her define her whole life in that capacity Sam."

"I know." Sam sighed. "I'll deal with it. But right now there's not much I can do about anything regarding Emily. Right now, we have a Gather to get to. So let's... deal with the stuff in front of us, everything else is just going to have to wait.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

Ingrid Jarlsdottir stood next to her brother and... fidgeted. She had done a lot of things in her lifetime, many them the sorts of deeds that no one outside the Fenrir would believe, but this was not one of them. A Gather, convened for this sort of crime, regarding the Jarl and and his family had not taken place in her lifetime. The last time anything quite like it had happened was around 600 years ago. She wasn't ready for it, or perhaps it would have been more fitting to say that she didn't want to be ready for this. Because the cold, hard truth was that she and Magnus had been preparing for this the moment they had fully joined their pack. Like Dagonet had said days ago, it was always going to end up here... eventually.

"You spend the night wrapped up in Yvanne?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Magnus replied.

"Because I can smell her on you. You haven't exactly been subtle about things that last few days. Not that I disapprove or anything. Hell, I think you two are really good fit, I just thought you'd go to your grave nattering on about how it was all a casual thing, or some bullshit like that."

Her twin rolled his eyes. "You're only about the 10th person to say something like that to me you know." Then he got serious. "But yeah, when all this crap is over... if she wants me, I'll mate her. Yvanne's who I love and I'm damn tired of being alone."

Ingrid nodded in sympathy. "Do you think it's weird that we're about to begin a Gather that may very well change the structure of our people and here we stand... talking about your love life?"

"Well... we could talk about your's instead you know." He was openly smirking at her.

"Aren't you funny. Besides, I have no love life. Seth and I aren't like that and I broke up with Rurik a year before I left. The only thing that has seen me naked in that time has been battery powered."

Magnus choked on nothing. "Thanks for that, really. Now that I have been fully scarred with the image of you with a sex toy, I think I'll go stab myself in the face!"

Ingrid just giggled manically at her beleaguered looking brother. There was something about being slightly immature with him that let the stress off her shoulders. This was how the two of them eased each other out, calmed each other down.

"So does Seth know that one of the alphas here is your ex-boyfriend?" Magnus asked.

"He knows I dated a wolf and that he's here. I didn't specifically mention that he's the alpha of the fourth pack."

Magnus leaned on the wall near the fireplace in the great hall. "You think it'll become an issue?"

"No. It's not like that with us and even if it was, Seth isn't petty like that. Even before he started coming into his own. Besides, Rurik isn't carrying a torch for me, so I hardly think it will matter much to him that I got imprinted on."

Every member of the pack that wasn't on patrol was in the great room. Everyone save for Dagmar. Even Gunnar was there. In about 20 minutes the Gather would start and after the introductions, the charges against Dagmar would be read. It was going to be a long day. Dagmar would get the chance to defend herself later, but right now it was the custom for the accused not be present during the first part of the proceedings. This wasn't like court, the accused had no right to face their accusers nor a right to a speedy trial. Once Magnus had contacted Freya to convene a Gather, they could have locked Dagmar in a cell until a convenient time was found. In fact, if this hadn't directly involved the Jarl, if Dagmar had been the bolverk of some other pack, she most likely would have spent the rest of the winter rotting away in a dank hole somewhere. Rank had it's privileges, and it's curses as well.

Ingrid was about to ask if Magnus was ready when she saw Seth and his packmates enter. "Oh, by the way... Enni had sex with Quil. Have fun with Sam's bad mood over that."

Magnus looked tired suddenly. "The one who imprinted on the kid?"

"That's the one." she replied.

"Perfect. Well, personally, I don't care who Enni takes to bed, as long as everything is consensual it's none of my business. If his beta want's to get his panties in a twist about it, I've got bigger things to deal with."

Sam just walked over to them with a slightly long suffering look on his face. "I don't wear panties."

Magnus gave a short laugh and pointed to where the knot of people in white were standing. "Alright, here's how this works. You're a beta Sam so you will stand and be seated near me, but still within the area of my pack. The rest of you will stay slightly behind Sam. None of you will be introduced until after all the Fenrir introductions have been made. After that Sam will stand, introduce himself and the fact that he speaks for Jacob Black, his alpha, then you give your pack's name, and the names and ranks of the wolves with you. Because of Leah's unique situation in her rank structure, I would say discretion is the better part of valor here and call her your 3rd ranked. With the other wolf on the other side of the world right now, it's not exactly a lie."

Ingrid took Seth's elbow. "After the first part of the Gather has taken place, there will be a short break. After that, as long as you sit with the Jarl Pack, you'll be fine. Sit with whomever you want." She looked at Seth. "People will expect you to either stick close to Sam or me, so if you want to be hard to pigeonhole, don't."

A single bell tone went off and people began to converge at the large stone table that ran nearly the length of the room itself. Ingrid showed the La Push wolves where to sit and then she sat next to her brother. The Jarl pack was a sea of white, they sat at the head of the table. Gunnar however, sat in a chair on a small dais above the them all. The throne-like implications were impossible to ignore. The chair was large, stone, but otherwise, utterly unadorned. For what was, essentially, the wolf-king's throne, it was a rather simple affair.

Quil leaned over and whispered to Seth. "Why does it feel like we're in some sort of mythological story?"

"Because we have been since we first phased? Now be quiet. I'm pretty sure talking during this is considered rude." Seth replied.

Gunnar stood. He was a massive man, larger than even his son. He had cold blue eyes and a close cut pate of nearly transparent blonde hair. While phasing had made him perpetually somewhat youthful, the rigors of his life had aged him nevertheless. While he may have had the body of a 25 year old, no one would have ever mistaken him for one. To look at him was to look at a man who had left youth behind a long time ago, and in many ways. When he spoke, his voice sounded a bit like he was gargling gravel.

"I am Gunnar Jarlsson, alpha of the 1st pack and Jarl of the Fenrir Nation, for those who have never met me. You are all here because a Gather has been convened. Normally I would be running this... venture, but because it directly affects me, there is a somewhat conflict of interest. So instead I will watch, my son Magnus, who functions as my beta, will be the one directly deals with the overseeing of the proceedings."

Then the Jarl sat down and Magnus stood up. "I am Magnus Jarlsson, beta of the 1st pack and the one who called for Freya to convene this Gather." Then he gestured to Dagonet. "This is Dagonet, the 3rd ranked wolf of our pack. As this Gather deals directly with our pack, many of us are in attendance."

Then he sat down and nodded at Ingrid, she stood as well and her voice was strong as she introduced herself. "I am Ingrid Jarlsdottir, the Dominant among the all our nation's wolfblooded and I speak for them. Because our bolverk has been relieved of her duties, I also speak for the humans of our nation as well."

Then another female stood and Seth watched with undisguised fascination. She was powerfully built, but was shorter than most of the other shifters in the room. Her hair was so blonde it was nearly white and her eyes were a very pale blue. She moved like she had no concerns about anyone or anything in the room.

"I am Freya, Eldest of the Fenrir and alpha of the 2nd pack." She placed her hand on a tall woman's shoulder seated to her left. "This is Agna, my pack's bolverk and one of my direct descendents."

A heavily scarred man spoke next. Seth hadn't been aware that shifters could scar like that, but he guessed it made sense. If a vampire could kill you, chances were it could leave it's mark on you too.

"I am Lars, alpha of the 3rd pack. This is my nephew and 3rd ranked Wilfred." Wilfred for his part looked uncomfortable having to sit still at the table.

A thinner and wiry muscled man stood next. "I am Rurik, alpha of the 4th pack and this is my 3rd ranked wolf, Sten."

Seth paid more attention to this one. He was Ingrid's former boyfriend, and looking at him it wasn't exactly surprising to Seth that he was an alpha. His imprint was a dominant woman, it made a certain amount of sense to him that she would have dated an alpha. Besides, since she was only supposed to be courted by high ranked wolves, why wouldn't she have an alpha in her past? He watched their nonverbal communication with each other and felt the slightest bit relieved. They acknowledged one another, but there were no lingering glances nor tortured looks of a love thwarted or unrequited, on either side. They seemed to have well and truly moved on from each other. Though... why wouldn't they? Ingrid had told him that it had been almost two years since they had broken up. The fact that she had neglected to mention that he was an alpha actually made Seth smile a bit. She played things close to the vest, and he was finding that he was okay with that for the most part. It kept him on his toes.

Another man was talking now, a rare head of dark hair floating in a sea of blonde and the occasional

redhead. "I am Lodur alpha of the 5th pack and this is my 3rd ranked packmember Gisela." Gisela was a rather stern looking woman with an angular face who appeared to have never laughed a day in her life.

"I am Frode, alpha of the 6th pack. This is my bolverk and mate Iris."

Here Quil perked up, Frode was Enni's former alpha, that meant his pack was from Stockholm, Sweden. He couldn't help thinking about his night with her, when she had told him she was in her 60's it had brought him up short for a bit. But then he relaxed... it was still a bit of a culture shock to realize that if he didn't retire, he would look nearly as young as he was now until the day he died. Looking back at Lodur and Iris, he wondered if they regretted letting a wolf as smart as Enni leave.

The next wolf to introduce himself was Johan, the alpha of the Oslo pack who were apparently the 7th pack. The La Push wolves were unsure how it was that whole entire wolfpacks got ranked, but Seth made a note to ask Ingrid or Magnus when the opportunity arose. He was here with his 3rd ranked by the name of Lodewjik. Seth sincerely hoped he wouldn't have to call the man by his name because he was pretty positive he would mangle the pronunciation.

One by one the rest of the alpha's introduced themselves and either their bolverk or their 3rd ranked packmate. When there were no more Fenrir left to be announced, Sam stood. This was his first official foray into international shapeshifter politics, he had handled the Volturri, years ago, with aplomb. But that had been vampires, this was his own kind, this was different and since up until several months ago, he hadn't even been aware that any wolves besides his tribe's pack existed, it meant more to him. Making a good impression wasn't just about holding their own, it was about making a grand entrance on the stage. He sent a quick and silent prayer to whomever may have been listening and then introduced himself and his packmates.

"I am Samuel Uley, the beta of the Quillete wolfpack. Our 7th ranked wolf, Seth is imprinted on Ingrid Jarlsdottir, and as such, through him, we have a stake in this Gather. My alpha, Jacob Black, in deference to the fact that we have no standing treaty with the Fenrir has sent me, Seth Clearwater, our 3rd ranked wolf Leah Clearwater and our 8th ranked wolf Quil Atera as well. He chose to stay and protect our lands and our people with the remainder of our pack. I speak with his backing in this matter."

His eyes flicked from alpha to alpha, before settling on Magnus. Then he sat down, realizing that most, if not all, eyes in the room were on him, he leaned back in his chair with an ease he didn't truly feel. However, by holding each gaze for a moment before acknowledging that a room full of alphas were more dominant than he, but yet not once protecting his torso, in fact leaving it open, sent a message. It told anyone who knew how to read shapeshifter body language that he was confident in his abilities and could hold his own. That he was astute but not overly cocky . In essence, the perfect wolf to have been sent by his alpha to do this job.

After the Quillette introduction Magnus stood and read out the accusations being made against Dagmar. All of the people here already knew why they were convening a Gather during Winter War, but there appeared to be a very formal ritual at work and the Fenrir were following it to the letter. Seth watched all the wolves as they were told the extent of the ineptitude of the Jarl pack's bolverk. Some seemed nonplussed, but he was willing to bet it was just that they didn't want to give anything away that someone else could use against them. Some seemed briefly angered until they too, became a little too calm. This was why Seth was glad he wasn't Sam. Politics was always going to be bit out of his league. At the end of the day, he was too honest to be a politician, wolfen or otherwise.

Once all of that was done, there was a brief break and everyone was told to go stretch their legs, because the next portion of the Gather would be long and intensive. It could be the wee hours of the morning before anyone got back to their rooms and their beds. The La Push pack stuck close together through the break, occasionally talking to Ingrid, Magnus and Enni. They could feel curious eyes on them, but only Freya came over to talk and she mostly just pulled Sam off to the side to speak. No one got the chance to ask what they talked about however, because as soon as he came back, the bell sounded and they returned to the great hall to continue the Gather.

It was long. There was no getting around the fact that nearly everyone was speaking in English in deference to the Quillete wolves and a good half of them weren't happy about it. First the members of the Jarl pack who had had close dealings with Dagmar spoke. All of them did so with some show of baring their throat to their Jarl and alpha. It was becoming increasingly hard to ignore just how powerful Gunnar was and how much control he could have if he chose to exercise it.

Enni had to show the assembled alphas her evacuation schedule that she had given to Dagmar months ago. She talked about how Dagmar had taken it and had been more interested in talking about Magnus and Yvanne, and of course... Ingrid. When asked whether she thought Dagmar deliberately left those people up there and stranded, her answer was interesting.

"No, I don't think so. I think... I think she doesn't understand how important it is, what we do. It's like trying to explain to a child why they have to go to the doctor's office even though all they want to do is run around and play outside. She has her, I guess you could call it severe focus points, but I'd call it obsessions, and those take up the bulk of her effort and mental energy. Whatever is left over after that is what she puts towards being the bolverk, it's always been that way."

The 13th alpha Nicklaus asked her an interesting question. "But I thought that she gave up being bolverk when Ingrid reached 15 years of age. Maybe that was her realizing she wasn't up to the task?"

"No." Enni paused here and then frowned. "She didn't walk away from the job very willingly the first time. She's never liked the twins and she's always been very resentful that that training injury took her ability to have children away. She has been verbal about her dislike that Marit's children will carry on the Jarl family line and not her's. She hated the fact that Ingrid took over for her and was better at the job. She just didn't have a choice in the matter. The pack was chaffing against her holding that high of a position. I'm not ranked highly enough to know what went on behind closed doors, but one day Dagmar was out and Ingrid was in and that was that and things ran more smoothly."

After Enni spoke, Karolina was requested to tell them about how she had been affected by the bolverk. As one of the humans that was most tightly bound to the 1st pack, she had quite a lot to do with Dagmar.

"I may not have her breathing down my neck quite like Magnus and my mates do, but life with her is no picnic for me either." Karolina was blunt. Maybe it was the fact that she had her hands in just about everyone's innards after awhile as the pack medic, but sometimes, when the little human was annoyed, she was like a cold brisk wind right up the nose.

"She thinks that she should have a say in treatment, who gets priority, who gets mercifully put out of their misery and how. She... " Karolina paused, then she looked Magnus, Dagonet and Hilde right in the eye. She was going to air some very dirty laundry and it was going to make her some enemies, but it was long since past the time where this knowledge should have been made public to the nation.

"Dagmar refused to let terminally bitten wolves be allowed to die. What I mean is... she made us keep them alive, made me keep them alive. No matter how much they screamed, no matter how hard they begged, I couldn't end their suffering and neither could any of the pack. Eventually she relented and allowed venom saturated wolves to be mercy killed. But... that's _always_ been the job of the alpha, but Dagmar found that too disturbing so she begged him not to do it anymore, and he shoved the responsibility off on first Dagonet and then his son. Because she asked him to. For years now, Magnus has had to send these wolves to Fenris and he was nowhere near old enough for that sort of responsibility when he started. And it's not the beta's job, it's the alpha's. She finds the things she thinks are too brutal and she demands that they change, with no understanding as to why the pack may do things that way in the first place."

Frode looked at Magnus. "Is this true?"

"It is." Magnus said, carefully avoiding looking at his father as he spoke. It was hard, one part of him was the beta of his pack, with a duty to each and every person underneath him. But another part, a smaller part was still that small boy in that kitchen all those years ago, still wondering why his father had ceased to care.

Karolina answered more questions, most of them regarding the disaster at Northcape, and then she got up and left the room. Unlike other non-wolf members of the 1st pack, her duties kept her far too busy to spend the bulk of her day in the great hall listening to endless testimony. Seth watched Dagonet and Hilde's eyes track their mate out the door, they were worried. The medic's statements were dangerous. It not only cast the bolverk in a very bad light, it did the same to the Jarl, and that put anyone, but especially a normal human, in a risky position.

The rest of the testimony went like this, nervous wolves and wolfblooded telling the assembled alphas and company about various run in's with Dagmar and of the massacre that had set the Gather in motion. Other humans spoke up as well, not just Karolina, and it went on for what seemed like forever. There was no way this was going to be wrapped up in one day. Hell at this point Seth was wondering if it would get wrapped up in month. When everyone adjourned for the evening, Dagmar had still not been seen nor heard from. Leah asked where the woman was and Ingrid told her that until everyone else had their say, only then would Dagmar get the chance to defend herself. So no one but Gunnar would see her till the very last day.

That night everyone slept fitfully. Magnus wrapped himself around Yvanne, hoping that holding her would keep old and awful memories of abandonment away. Dagonet, Hilde and Karolina ate a large supper together and talked about their children. All of Dagonet and Hilde's young were long grown now, and it was on this night that the three of them decided that their family needed to grow larger and that come spring, Karolina would carry their newest addition.

Sam and Leah spent the night talking, planning, wondering why there were here and what, exactly, anyone expected them to say or do. Leah felt energized by the new lease on life that seeing the she-wolves had given her, but at the same time, she was rather happy that Jake and the rest of them had only one pack and one treaty to deal with. A whole nation? Right now that just seemed like a giant clusterfuck to her. Sam thought that he was done feeling sorry for himself. After listening to the testimony of the people that had spoken today, he realized that unless the Olympic Peninsula became ground zero for an epic war, he would never see death, destruction and pain on the level that the Fenrir did every single year. He was grateful for that. And both of them, before they went their separate ways, mentioned that they now realized the risk they had taken in agreeing to fight the Volturri with the Cullens over 5 years ago. It was sheer dumb luck that it hadn't gone badly, and win or lose? It would have been a bloodbath that day.

Ingrid and Seth... drank. Tomorrow she and her twin would testify, tomorrow was the day that any of the convening members of the Gather who had dealings with the 1st pack's bolverk would speak. What little was left of the veil they had worked so hard to maintain over the years was going to come crashing down. And Ingrid thought everyone could just go sit and spin if they thought she was being irresponsible for having 3 scotches on the rocks. In fact, they should get down on their knees and thank Fenris that it wasn't 13. Seth drank 3 as well, though with his metabolism, it might as well have been 3 glasses of water but, in his experience, when people were on the cusp of a life changing event, they disliked drinking alone.

"You handled yourself well today you know. You asked all the right questions. I mean we all know that your step-mother is as fucked as a baby seal in a shark tank, but you never once looked like you were intentionally gunning for her." he said.

Ingrid laughed. "You seem to be finding your inner sarcastic wit. I like it, one day you may even equal your sister."

"Are you kidding me? I've learned to never take any titles away from Leah, she bites. I'm happy to just be the Vice-President of sarcasm to her Prime Minister... or what the hell ever."

After they were finished with the alcohol, both went to bed. Seth never mentioned to Ingrid that she cried in her sleep about something. He had the sneaking suspicion that it might not be an abnormal thing for her. And wasn't that just more evidence of her crapsack childhood.

Quil on the other handd wanted to reaffirm the fact that being in the presence of a female that he was highly attracted to didn't make his chest explode, his wolf insane or Taha Ahki come down from... wherever he was... and smite him. When he knocked on Enni's door, she let him in and she smelled nervous. That night he learned something, Enni was far more submissive than him. He knew she wasn't dominant, but _somehow_ he hadn't realized that she was her pack's omega. She had spoken against her bolverk, most likely angered her alpha and Jarl. She was very much not up for sexual shenanigans of any sort whatsoever. Funnily enough, neither was Quil after he watched her pace around the room casting furtive glances in all directions. So, much like Magnus with Yvanne, he slept curled around her, but unlike the beta, he was the one doing the comforting. It made Quil feel better than he had in a long time that an adult woman was accepting comfort from him. If anyone had asked, he would have said that it made him feel like a man.

**XXX XXX XXX XXX**

The next day everyone woke up pensive and quiet. Today the big dogs were going to take the floor. Anyone and everyone who was on the convening council of the Gather who had had pertinent experience with Dagmar was going to speak. Today was also the day the last eyewitness account of what had come to be known as the Slaughter of Northcape would be heard. No one was really looking forward to it. It would be tense, all that dominance in one room, alphas possibly breaking faith with the one person dominant enough to demand and to receive their loyalty and submission. But most of all, everyone knew that both the Jarl's children were going to have to talk about things that would put their father in a bad light and would possibly crucify his imprint.

No one was looking forward to it. At the same time, no one could say that it wasn't going to be interesting.

Enni stood by the door and with Quil watched Ingrid and Magnus stand a few feet from their father, watched them unable to come together as a family.

"I once told Ingrid that her family was like a fire. That it kept the Fenrir safe and warm, but if that heat, if those flames ever escaped the fireplace grate it would burn us all alive." she said. "Unless the twins have had a change of heart... today is the day the flames jump over the hearth and onto our fur."

"Hoping for a peaceful outcome?" Quil asked.

"No, just realizing how true it is that sins always come home to roost... eventually." she replied.

Then once again the bell sounded and everyone went into the great hall and took their places. First the 3rd ranked and the bolverks who had any dealings with Dagmar spoke. Then it was the alpha's turns. Some of the testimony was cautious, some was inflammatory, but all of it was digging at the truth. And that truth, as far as the La Push pack could tell, was whether Dagmar was fit at all to have any dealings with the Fenrir, indeed to determine if she even merited being one of them at all anymore.

Then Freya stood to speak. The moment she opened her mouth she had everyone's undivided attention. She was shorter than everyone in the room, not too surprising seeing as how she was prehistoric, but the power behind her made her seem 8 feet tall. The only other person who commanded this level of respect was the man whose wife was on trial, and Freya did not look happy.

First she gave Gunnar a long stare, which he returned. Seth watched and decided that he was glad he wasn't in the middle of it. He was pretty sure that if he was, he would have lit spontaneously on fire. There was no love lost between these two, that much was obvious. Ingrid had told them that Freya had always been open about her disdain for Dagmar and her choices and how their father did not fight harder. It reminded him of what she always said about the ancient wolf. Only the first Jarl was ever able to control her, the rest had had to settle for containing her.

"For many years I have spoken out about Dagmar Jarlsson's behavior. I have asked questions and demanded answers from our Jarl. To this day I have not once gotten anything satisfactory from him, but I have kept my eyes open, and I have listened even harder. I have seen a Jarl have less and less to do with his people and eventually his own pack, sequestering himself with his imprint. An imprint who seems to be a black hole of need. No matter how much attention is paid to her, it is never enough. Her needs rival that of a newborn's requirements; constant, immediate, and frighteningly intense."

She began to pace around the room, like a wolf working out it's paws. In many ways she seemed to be half canine no matter what she did. Like she and her wolf had spent so much time together that they were now a fully melded and inseparable whole.

"I have spoken to her many times, demanded answers and gotten petulant replies. She reminds me of a child. She wants what she wants, when she wants it and she is utterly unable to understand when things do not work out in her favor. Most people, when they do wrong, they know it somewhere deep in their hearts. They may lie to others and to themselves for a time, but inside they know and eventually the truth will out. But Dagmar? She is not like that, it is my belief that she, somehow, does not realize the extent of her actions nor the wrongness of them. And that, in my opinion, is the most dangerous thing about her. As the Christians have often said, the road to their hell is paved with good intentions. No matter how awful her choices may be to us, I would be willing to bet my tail on the fact that she has no fathoming of how wrong they really are."

Then Freya gave an exhaustive account of each and every encounter she had ever had with Dagmar that had ended either badly or with a severe case of the well-this-isn't right. It was a long testimony, but unlike when anyone else had begun to ramble, no one in their right mind would have thought to signal her to hurry it along. When she sat down there was silence for a time.

Now there were only four more people who needed to speak today. Hilde, Dagonet, Ingrid and last would be Magnus. Freya nodded to the wolblooded at the door to go and get Hilde. While everyone who had been at Northcape had spoken yesterday, Hilde's version of events had been saved till today. She was tasked with giving the complete history of what had happened, of tying all the different versions together. After all, save for Magnus, she had been the most dominant wolf there that day.

When the dark haired woman entered, she looked old. It wasn't that her body seemed elderly, like every wolf, she was locked in perpetual youth, it was the way she walked, the way she stood, the way she spoke. Three centuries of life was long and Hilde was getting tired of accumulating more and more bad memories. She didn't even wait for anyone to start asking her questions, she simply stood and spoke, her eyes focused above the heads of everyone, looking at something only she could see.

"It was awful. When we realized that the Northcape Sami hadn't been evacuated, we were expecting the worst. Even the young ones, no one really thought it would be all okay and that they would be in their tents, peaceably waiting for us. But you hope, even when you know it's pointless, you still hope." she said.

"They were dead, all of them. Eaten, flung around. Most of them still had their eyes open, most of them looked terrified, in pain. Even the children. The kids are always the worst. I've seen more than my fair share of children turned into vampire-chow... but it never gets any easier. In case anyone wants to know, 9 children lost their lives up in Northcape due to our bolverk's mismanagement of the evacuations. Grand total there were 37 fatalities. We thought that a small group of them had survived, but when we tracked them down... they were dead. All of them were wounded and hypothermia killed them less than 2 miles away. They weren't dressed properly to make it in the snow."

"Are you sure that they didn't choose to stay in their settlement?" asked Agna.

"None of our pack, not wolf, nor wolfblooded went there to get them. You can't refuse an option that no one gives you. I saw the evacuation schedule and they were supposed to be taken to safety first."

"Why did none of you realize that no one had gone to them?" Rurik's gaze was piercing.

"I think everyone just assumed someone had gone and that the job was done. When we realized that it hadn't, that they were stranded, we got there as fast as we could. The fastest runners and the best fighters went. I brought my own mate on my back because we were certain that survivors would need immediate medical care, possibly in a combat situation. But... there was nothing left to do when we arrived but to burn the bodies. They had all been dead for some time, Karolina had a hard time determining exact time of death thanks to the permafrost up there, but she was pretty sure it was at least 4 days."

Here Hilde had to stop and take a deep breath before continuing. "They were already dead before we noticed a thing, if Enni hadn't figured it out, we might not have known till the spring thaw. We were supposed to protect them. That's all we do, it's what Fenris created us for... and thanks to a spoiled CHILD... we let them die."

Then the fourth ranked she-wolf took out pictures, more than anyone wanted to see, but everyone looked. Even the La Push pack. Murmured curses and quick intakes of air were heard as the photos made their way around. It was one thing to hear about the deaths, it was another to see the color photographs of the dead. Seth swallowed hard, if he never had to see another picture of a murdered child, it would be too soon. Looking at what was so obviously food and nothing more to vampires, he started to wonder how cows felt and thought if it was possible for a shape-shifting wolf to be a vegetarian, he might have taken it up.

When Hilde was done and when the photos had been fully examined and questioned, the Gather broke for a little while. It wasn't to make it proceed more efficiently, it was to give everyone an emotional break. Instead of conversations, everyone left in silence, packmembers stayed together and nearly everyone felt the need for a stiff drink.

The La Push pack stayed together as well and only one person spoke.

"Some things can never be unseen. I'm getting so tired of looking at pictures of massacres I can do nothing about." Sam growled.

It took an hour before the bell sounded again. An hour of mostly silence, punctuated by murmurs. There were only 3 more testimonies to be given and then they would be done for the night. It was hard to tell exactly what everyone expected. No one in the 1st or 2nd packs seemed to have any illusions about how things would go with the twins. But everyone else seemed to think there might be the possibility that they would side with their family, such as it was anymore. As Seth watched the siblings he could see so much passing between them non-verbally. He was pretty sure that they were going to do whatever they thought was best for the nation, regardless of how that worked out for them personally.

He had the idle thought that guys his age were usually in college and getting drunk on the weekends. Maybe they were in love, maybe they weren't... but they were still caught up in the pursuit of sex and the fun that went with it. And here he was, involved in something that if it were taking place in the human world, in his country, would be a televised hearing on Capitol Hill. His was ever so much not the life of the average 20 year old guy.

They went back into the hall and took their seats. Dagonet stood up and greeted everyone, then he began to speak. What he had to say was a bit different, it spoke mostly to who Gunnar had been and how he had changed after becoming imprinted on Dagmar. How the man he had known had deteriorated in front of him, slowly in some ways, lighting quick in others.

"Our Jarl was not always like this, when he ruled with Marit as his bolverk, he was a fair man. He was still stern, but not hypocritical. Dagmar, like Freya has already said, is frightening in the intensity of her needs. She's always been like that, but as the years went by, she got worse. When Marit died and the children came back to the pack, it was like watching someone unravel. I'm not sure if it's jealousy or something deeper, but she hated those kids, and when Magnus phased for the first time, I thought she would choke on her own tongue. She had never been very good at handling the requirements of being a bolverk, but after our beta phased... she seemed to come a bit undone."

The third ranked wolf kept looking at Ingrid and Magnus. In some ways, in many ways, he was their father figure more than their real one. It hadn't exactly been hard to step into the role, after all, no one had fought him for it.

"After a few years, three actually, Ingrid started unofficially doing the work. Packmates started going to her instead of Dagmar. Keep in mind, she was only 14 years old at that time. After a year, it was official. The entire pack requested that Ingrid take over, wear the torque. And she did. And Dagmar became more and more insular. She still made pronouncements, still tried to control things through Gunnar, but until Ingrid left, she was cut off from a lot of direct action."

Dagonet took a deep breath. "The thing is is that she was allowed to live such a protected life, a far softer life than anyone who wishes to call themselves Fenrir, wolf, wolfblooded or human is generally allowed to have. You all know how it is, If someone wants to run with the pack, be part of the nation, then they had better be able to stand with us. They have to contribute something. Not everyone is a warrior, but everyone had better have a use, a function to perform. Dagmar has no function, no use."

Seth watched the way Gunnar's eyes were boring a hole into the back of Dagonet's head. He had the sneaking suspicion that the only reason that the old wolf was even able to make such statements at all was that he was facing away from the Jarl. As it was, his voice was rougher than usual and it was quite clear that he was having to put an effort into speaking these things at all. As the Gather had gone forward, Gunnar had been getting angrier and angrier and by now it was a very good thing that no low ranked or submissive pack members were left to speak.

"Our Jarl has changed too. Beyond what everyone has already spoken about. He's become nearly irrational in his desire to cater to his imprints needs. Now, I'm not saying that he should ignore her. I'm imprinted myself and I realize how nearly impossible that is. However, he has lost sight of what he is, and how to care for his pack, for his nation. Things should never have gone as badly as they have, in choosing to cleave so obsessively to his imprint, he has nearly abandoned us... and as the Jarl he just does not have that luxury. When Dagmar first started taking this pack down a bad road, he should have stepped in, and he didn't. Now people, many people, have died and I wonder if he, even now, hold her accountable for her actions."

Before Dagonet sat down he looked at the twins. "I've known your father all his life and this is not what he aspired to be."

It was quiet in the room. Dagonet's words could be taken as a direct attack on his alpha and Jarl. Seth wondered if the man would have to change packs after this. The way Gunnar was looking at him, it might appear so.

Next it was Ingrid's turn, all of La Push's eyes were on her as she stood in the center of the room. She was the highest ranking non-wolf in her culture and even if that was all, her words would have meant something. But she was Gunnar's daughter, his oldest child, Magnus's sister and that meant what she had to say would carry even more weight.

"I'm not going to rehash what Dagmar has done or not done. We've all heard it by now and at this point it would just be redundant. We all know she's utterly incompetent, we all know that she cares more for the idea of being the Jarl's mate rather than the duties that position brings with it. We all know what happened between her and my mother. We know it all. At this point we have to look past all that and to what is best for this pack and this nation. "

She began to gesture with her hands and walk in a wide circle, catching the eyes of everyone there.

"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. An imprint has to walk a fine line because they have absolute power over their wolf. Some women can walk that line, can remain ethical, honest and good people. But many cannot. It starts with a little slip here and there and I've heard many Fenrir speak about how imprinting gone wild, running rampant through too many wolves would destroy the Nation. I wish I could say that Dagmar's descent to where she is now was slow, that ultimately she just couldn't stand up to that siren song of power that imprinting sings. But I would be lying. She fell nearly instantly and to this day no one knows why. We all know how her and my father's relationship started and I ask everyone here: Is that the sort of woman who should hold such a high position? She influences decisions that can potentially affect every man, woman and child of the Fenrir. At some point we must examine the content of her character. We must measure it against the her actions. And we must also measure the Jarl... and his complicitness in allowing this to have ever happened.."

Seth, Sam... hell _everyone_ had been expecting more, a longer speech. Instead she turned and calmly walked back to her chair and patiently waited for Magnus to get up. Her statement had been short, but it had also been powerful. Ingrid had essentially broke ranks, officially, with her family. If Magnus did as well, and Seth was willing to bet his own tail he would, than the Jarls' family would truly become a house divided.

Magnus's voice boomed as he spoke, Yvanne had come into the room after Dagonet's statement she never once took her eyes off her mate. Magnus spoke of years of slowly but surely watching his father bow to an ever increasingly unstable wife, how this had affected him directly and how it had affected the pack. Ingrid's words had been a prelude for her brother, a set-up that was perfect. When he had finished he took a deep breath.

"Dagmar has broken faith with our people and she has been allowed to do so at every step along the path. And now, she refuses to even speak in her own defense."

Here there were murmurs and confused glances. After all the testimony... she was supposed to offer up her own words as an explanation for her failings. To refuse was like political suicide.

"She believes she owes us none. That she is bolverk and the Jarl's imprint. She offers to step down and return her position to Ingrid."

Again there was confusion and on not a few faces, anger. This was nearly unprecedented and it foolish beyond measure. Magnus turned to his father and stared at him, met his gaze piercingly. It was like watching a balance of power start to shift the slightest bit.

"You've hidden long enough Father, you've hidden with her behind me, behind Ingrid, behind Dagonet. You have one last opportunity to punish her as she deserves. You retain that right as she is your imprint, your mate and your chosen bolverk. If you give up that right, this Gather will do it for you, you must know she cannot walk away unscathed. There are too many deaths now."

Gunnar looked like a massive cloud of fury. His fists were clenched on the arms of his large chair, his brows were furrowed and he was visibly grinding his teeth. "I am her wolf, she is my imprint. I cannot punish her. I leave that in the... eager... hands of the Gather. If you will excuse me, I have matters to attend to."

He stormed out of the room and all the lower ranked wolves of the 1st pack were dismissed. When the room was empty of all save those who would be deliberating and the La Push representatives that old doors were locked and it was time to determine what could be done.

It wasn't exactly a long deliberation, no one had any notions of not punishing the woman. The question was how to punish her.

"We can't let her stay, we just can't. We would have a revolt on our hands if we did." said Rurik.

Freya was silent, her chin resting on steepled fingers. "I am curious about what La Push's beta has to say. You hold no vote Sam, but... your tribe is now irrevocably connected to us. Treaties will be made and signed, mutual protection agreements could be on the table. So I want to know... what do you think of all this?"

The spotlight couldn't have been more on Sam if one had actually popped out of the ceiling. Internally Sam was sweating it, he hadn't wanted to put his two cents in if for no other reason that he didn't really feel that it had much, if anything, to do with what would happen. But one did not tell a woman who was older than the oldest, tallest tree he knew, no.

"My tribe does not have our imprints and human family members so tightly tied to pack life. Mostly they lead the sort of protected life that is not respected here. We are a small pack within a small tribe and we have to play things closer to our vests than you do. Our tribe just can't survive the sort of attention you risk here. However, if any imprint, no matter how tightly tied to their wolf, caused something like this, there is no way our alpha would not punish her. Regardless of who she was and who her wolf was... there would be no choice. I can only imagine she would be culled from the pack."

He got a pensive look on his face as he thought about the consequences for the wolf if his imprint was thrown out of the pack. "The more dominant the wolf, I would imagine the less negative the outcome for him. I think, though I am not sure, that for a more submissive wolf, having all contact with his imprint severed by force of an alpha order it would be worse... but it would be the action we would have to take."

"Thankfully we've never had to deal with such a situation. At least not in living memory." he said.

"And do you agree with many of us that she should, in fact, be culled?" Freya asked.

"I do." said Sam. "And I believe that the feeling is unanimous among my wolves.

Leah, Seth and Quil all nodded affirmatively when the rest looked their way.

"It would rewrite a lot of what we think about imprinting and it's place in our culture, and it would be very uncomfortable... but it would have to be done." Sam concluded.

There was more debate after that and much of it centered not on whether to punish the bolverk, but the form it would take. Everyone had noticed that Gunnar seemed not to be himself and the twin were all very glad that he had opted not to speak much during the hearing. In fact they had been expecting a much stronger defense laid down, but it was almost as if they were laying down and baring belly to a far superior foe.

But then the degree of punishment became a sticking point. By agreeing to step down, it appeared that Dagmar was admitting she had been wrong, there seemed to be a degree of assumed remorse. Some hardline traditionalists wished only for her to give up her position as bolverk and retain all other privileges as the Jarl's mate. After nearly 7 hours of back and forth, a decision was made and the assembled Fenrir opened the doors and all spectators were allowed back in. Gunnar took his place on his dais and once everyone had taken their places, Dagmar was lead up from where she had been held during the proceedings.

Finally the La Push pack was getting a look at her. She had honey blonde hair and large green eyes, freckles dusted over her nose and cheeks and she was positively skinny. Her frame was slight and her breasts and hips were those of a girl. The woman was a waif. That this tiny, scrawny thing could be the cause of so much angst was a bit ironic. Then they got a good look in her eyes, they were had as stone and twice as cold. She looked at everything like it belonged to her and to her alone. It was a mixture of need and something else, something none of the wolves could really put their fingers on, but it smelled... wrong.

Seth looked around the room, his pack was where they had been this entire time, with the 1st pack. Freya had moved to the middle of the room. As the next highest ranking alpha after Gunnar, she would read out Dagmar's sentence, not Magnus, like Seth had at first thought. In fact... the twins were in the back of the room, standing near the fireplace, watching everything dispassionately.

Freya waited till Dagmar had taken her seat then she began to speak. "Dagmar Jarlsson, you have proven yourself, beyond a shadow of a doubt, fully incapable of handling the duties and responsibility of the bolverk. If that were your only crime you would merely be stripped of your position, but would be allowed to remain with the pack and with your mate. But we all know why you truly here."

Freya's voice became more resonant, power seemed to nearly bleed off her as she spoke the next words. "Dagmar Lisbeth Jarlsson it is the decision of this Gather that you are to surrender your status immediately, no longer will you carry the title of bolverk to the Jarl's pack. In addition you will remove yourself from said pack and have no more contact with the Fenrir nation till such time as you die. A member of my pack will escort you to wherever you wish to go, however, from then on in you will be on your own. You will receive no assistance from the Fenrir, it will be as though you were never a part of us. The sentence will commence at first light tomorrow morning."

When she finished she looked Gunnar dead in the eyes for a moment and then walked back to her place. Dagmar looked horrified, and angry. "You... you can't DO this!"

"We can, and we have." replied Freya.

Gunnar stood up, his whole being bristling with rage. "No, this will not happen. Dagmar will do nowhere, she will remain with us. There will be no exiling of my imprint! My daughter will merely take over her duties."

Seth looked back at Ingrid who had the hardest look in her eyes when her spoke of her.

Freya shook her head. "Then step down Gunnar, step down and let your son lead us. You are no longer what the Fenrir need to lead us."

"I will do NO SUCH THING!" Gunnar roared. "I am Jarl here and not my get. He will inherit the title when nature and Fenris see fit and not a moment beforehand.!"

As Seth was looking at her, Ingrid strode the rest of the way to the fireplace and lifted her father's ancestral sword form it's place over the stone mantle and held it horizontally in her hands, like she was about to present it to someone. Then she began to walk to the middle of the room, Magnus meeting her as she stopped and both twins stood in there staring defiantly at their father.

"You have betrayed out people and the sacred trust we have to protect them." Ingrid's voice was steady, no emotion flowed from her. She was almost eerily calm.

Magnus spoke next. "You are no longer fit to lead our people, if you will not step down, you will be removed!"

Then Ingrid took the sword and holding onto the hilt, she let the point crash down into the floor. Magnus lifted his foot and with a powerful kick he crashed it through the sword, shattering the blade in two pieces. Kicking the one on the ground, he sent it skittering across the floor towards his father.

"As you have broken faith with us, so we have broken your sword." Magnus yelled.

Next to Quil Enni gasped. "My G-d, it's civil war."

***** So, this one took FOREVER to write. Between real world stress, I have also realized that I do not have it in me to write a prolonged trial. I consider this to be my weakest chapter yet and will never be writing any sort of court proceedings again. This chapter nearly killed me. Towards the end I was rushing it just to get to the end and ended up cutting some stuff out. So in that vein, I want to thank Guns and Drums, Okamihybrid and Midnightstar for dealing with my never ending nail chewing on this, if not for them... I may have taken this story down. But onward and upward to the rest of this story! *****


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